Colors, A Prelude to Death
by Joe JS Smitty
Summary: Ch. 10 Another local village is being terrorized, in an attempt for the mage to exemplify their power. Enter the apprentices.
1. Default Chapter

Magic: The Gathering and it's colors are all properties of Wizards of the Coast.  
  
************* Colors: A Prelude to Death-White *************  
  
It was the fall of 2004 when it all started. September eleventh, three years after that tragic terrorist attack against the United States. Although not forgotten by the American people, it has been put aside as we might say, for them to live normal lives. Unfortunately, there are those that are not blessed with a normal life.  
  
It was the time of year when teenagers were returning to school. Some have been in for almost a month, some haven't even been to school yet. It was a time when friends meet old friends, and new ones. But this is only "a boring life" as they call it. "Nothing exciting ever happens to me," they might say. I envy them. I am.was one of those teenagers like them. My story begins months after September eleventh, but it all began on this day.  
  
School had started a week earlier, and you know how all the kids are when they return to school, bored, tired, and exasperated. Waking up at six- thirty in the morning is no easy feat, trust me, I know. I led a sheltered life, but it was a good one. I didn't have many friends, a couple here and there, not to mention the occasional "nice" girl, as I like to call them. You know what I mean, the kind of girl who doesn't care who you are, or what you did, you're still a person, and you deserve respect and kindness, that kind of girl. I had a crush on one of those girls. She was beautiful, golden hair, smooth skin. She was what was considered the perfect girl. But like most "perfect girls" she did have a boyfriend. He was one of the school jocks, a football bully. All-star defensive linebacker and fullback. All the girls loved him, he had muscles like you wouldn't believe, but was as dumb as a brick, as most stereotypical jocks are. I didn't have a problem with jocks, the ones that didn't think they were better than everyone. He was not such a person. I actually lost ten dollars of lunch money to him in the past years. I don't care, stuff like that never really got to me, until now.  
  
Our school was holding a party today, in honor in all those that gave their life to rescue as many people two years ago. It was lunch period, and I was sitting in the cafeteria. As usual, I was sitting alone.nearly. The only other person at my table was Jack, my best friend, who was even more ornery than a jock.  
  
"So what you do," he told me, "You go out to parking lot, don't worry, I'll be there too.."  
  
"I told you Jack, I'm not doing anything to his car!"  
  
He spread his arms out, "But I got the bologna! A-And nothing gets somebody angrier then wiping."  
  
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," I hissed at him. I knew better than that, I was raised to respect other people. That, and nobody else is stupid enough to do that to HIS car. As much as I didn't like him, I knew I could never beat him one-on-one, hell I couldn't even beat him if Jack were to aid me. I was about to leave, when I felt the crushing weight of a palm pressing down on my head.  
  
"Hey wimp, what were you thinking about doing to my car?" His ominous voice echoed in my head. Even through ignoring his horrific BO, I could feel the presence of other jocks.  
  
"Nothing Milfred," I mumbled.  
  
He sat down in the seat next to me, and I felt his large hand grip around my neck.  
  
"Now, the only reason I'm not going to do anything to you," he tells me, "is because Sarah is on the other side of the room." We look across the room to where Sarah was sitting. She was the figure of perfection. Her skin was smooth as silk, and her hair was as golden as an eagle. As a joke, I always called her "angel." She would giggle and blush, and I would blush back. But you gotta be careful when you flirt around her, one slipup and you're looking down the fist of a two-hundred and fifty pound bag of muscle. Hold the brains.  
  
"But if I find one tiny scratch on my car, your face will be meeting the.the."  
  
"Concrete," sometimes you have to finish sentences for him.  
  
"So if you want to keep what's left of your head," he pointed his finger at me, the usual symbol for anger, "Keep your hands off my car." As one more symbol of 'anger,' he took my milk and poured it on my pants. He laughed, smacked my back, and left.  
  
I glared over at Jack, who just glared as Milfred was walking away. When his eyes met mine he looked surprised.  
  
"What?" he asked. I continued to glare at him until I got up, although he got up with me. As I walked over to the garbage can, I heard the loud clatter of metal with the grunting of pain. I turned around and looked over to the doorway. Milfred stood with about five different foods stained on his shirt. On the floor was the food that wasn't on his shirt, and one lunch tray. About ten feet away from him, was Drake Marshall.  
  
Drake Marshall, the weirdo of our school. I would say freak, but that's a little rude, even for him. He's fairly new here, about a year. He always isolated himself from everyone else, always walked home from school, never got close to anyone. But besides for his jet black hair, nothing was that odd about his looks, I've even heard women say he's handsome. Unfortunately, he was about to get REAL close to Milfred's hands.  
  
There was that awkward silence again, Milfred just looked down at his shirt and pants, it was a mess. Then he glared up at Doug, he had some food on his shirt as well, but not nearly as much as Milfred had. What happened next wasn't very surprising, as Milfred grabbed Doug by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. His face was red with fury.  
  
"Okay twerp, having trouble watching where you're going? Cause I can fix that for you." He said, holding up his fist to Drake's face. The rest of the cafeteria were in a five foot radius around the two, we were all expecting that Drake's face would have to go through major surgery. But what we caught surprising..  
  
"Get.your hand.off of me." Drake hissed at Milfred. The entire cafeteria fell into dead silence, NO ONE dared to talk back at Milfred for two reasons. One was three inches away from Drake's face, the other..  
  
"MR. MARSHALL!" A booming voice exploded from behind the crowd. Our principal, Harold Vanderby, who, yes, was Milfred's dad. "Mr. Marshall! I see you've resorted to food fights now, huh?" He put his hands on his waist and looked around in an agitated sort of way, Milfred dropped Drake and rubbed his wrist, as if to tell his father that he hurt him, but we all knew better. "You two, see me in my office."  
  
  
  
I was walking out of the school building with Jack, Sarah, and her friend Tayliana. I never tried to make eye contact with her, she was impossible to talk to, but only because she.well.she had a rack that a seventeen year old shouldn't have, can I say that? This was a big risk for me and Jack, especially with No-Neck lurking around.  
  
"I'm telling you girl, you should dump him before something happens to you." She told Sarah.  
  
"Oh, he's not a bad guy, once you get to know him. I'm sure if you just talked to him you can see my point of view." She answered, her hands carrying her trapper at her waist. Sorry, when you're hopelessly in love, you tend to notice these things.  
  
Jack answered to that, insulting Milfred all the while, "Well we tried but he only answers in bursts of short and low grunts." I smiled, heard Tay laugh, and saw Sarah glare at Jack, who just put his hands behind his head. Tay, as beautiful as she was, also wasn't the nicest person, especially to Jack. But me and Sarah knew how she really felt.  
  
"What do you think Jessica?" Her little nickname for me, being as my name is Jesse. Cruel joke by my mother. I just blushed, then looked down at the ground and said, "Well, I uh, I don't think that much of it.I mean, it IS Sarah's choice." I looked up to see Sarah smiling at me, but I also saw what I thought to be disappointment in her eyes. We just stepped outside, as two of our female classmates walked by us.  
  
"Did you hear? Drake got a whole week of suspension, but Milfred only got ONE DAY of detention!"  
  
"Yeah, but he is real cute though. I don't think Sarah knows how lucky she is."  
  
If I was any less or more of a man, I would have stood up to that comment, but I felt not to. Then.all of our lives changed.  
  
We heard the commotion before we saw it. The shouts of fellow students jeering or gasping in shock. The grunting and muffled sounds of the two involved in it all. We all knew who they were, even Sarah who just started to walk faster and looked away from the crowd. The rest of us, even me, wanted to see at least a glimpse of the action. But few things could have been more shocking.  
  
Drake was showing no mercy to Milfred, and each punch seemed to sound louder and louder, almost bone shattering. Milfred didn't have a chance to fight back, as each punch continued to drain any remaining amount of energy left in him. Everyone, unlike in the cafeteria this morning, were scattered, and not huddled around like before. We were able to easily fit in there, and saw Drake just tearing into Milfred. He grabbed the shoulder of his shirt, and threw his knee into Milfred's jaw, sending him backwards. He stumbled on a car hood, wiping some blood off of his mouth, however, it didn't really since his entire lower face was covered with it. Drake slowly began walking up to Milfred, until two of Milfred's friends grabbed Drake by the arms and held him tight. He was a little startled, look back and forth between the two other jocks, then just let his arm go and glared at Milfred.  
  
"Looks like you fucked up, you little fuck," he yelled at Drake, "Not such a big.." His words caught in his throat as both of his friends slowly let go of Drake. They both looked frightened for their lives, as they backed away into the scattered crowd, hiding behind a couple of people. Milfred himself was looking fearful. Drake slowly began walking towards him again, and I could have sworn I saw his muscle instantly bulge. Milfred backed into a car, then tried to scramble in between them but met a forceful blow to his ribs by a fist. He gripped his shirt tightly and gasped for breath. Drake then slapped his chest with such a blow, everyone knew he broke a bunch of his ribs. Milfred went flying backwards, crashed off a parked car, and, amazingly, landed on his feet behind the car. What happened next was totally unexpected, as one of the driving students clipped Milfred in the side, causing him to twist in the air and land with a hard thud on the ground. Everyone thought he was dead, that is, everyone except me, Drake and Jack. We saw him start towards his motionless body, and we knew he was going to add injury to injury. We rushed to him and grabbed both of his arms, and we felt him struggling to break free. Then we felt something odd, it was like a dark, deep force was struggling it's way into our hearts. We both felt it, we were scared, but we shook it of, and held tightly to his arms. Then we felt something else, this was more weird than frightening, being as our feet were dangling a couple feet off the ground. We swung our feet wildly, and tried to force his arms down. I continued to put downward pressure on his arm, then I noticed his face. He brow was furrowed, and he grit his teeth, as if struggling to keep us up. Then he smiled.wickedly. He slowly set us down on the ground, we let go of him, and began to circle the large group huddled around Milfred's body. Jack couldn't care less, and at the moment, even _I_ felt less sympathetic towards the school bully, but I saw the top of the golden-haired goddess near the center, and I felt compelled to try and comfort her. I am a man after all, and I never had a date, so what can I do?  
  
It took a lot of shoving, but I made it to the center. I knelt down the opposite side of Milfred that Sarah was sitting. I heard a lot of things. Screaming. Yelling. Crying. But I didn't care, I only focused on Sarah and her tear-streamed eyes. She was gasping her tears back, and I knew that if I said anything to her she would burst out crying. I was filled with a lot of things, grief, cause I knew that Milfred was going to die, jealousy, because Sarah was showing this much emotion to some thick headed, muscle brained jerk whom she only knew for about a month, (they started dating over the summer) and compassion because I wanted to do everything in my power to make Sarah feel better. I looked into her eyes, and I felt my heart skipped.she looked back. Her eyes, filled with so much sadness, I felt my heart sink. That's when I knew it, I was in love. I was in love with a woman whose heart appeared to have belonged to someone else. 'So this is what love feels like.' I thought.  
  
I looked deep into her eyes again, I had no idea what she was thinking. Then I saw her try to speak, but she stopped. She looked down at Milfred again, and held out her hand. I was still clueless as to what she was doing. Then it happened. It was small at first, like a little firefly, a small glowing light. It began to grow, soon it was about the size of softball, maybe a little bigger. I was stunned, yet amazed at the same time. I noticed the entire crowd going silent, all of the kids backing away from her, all except for me and Tay that is, who was was left the closest to Sarah, next to me. Sarah lowered her hand closer and closer, and the small ball of light went passed straight into Milfred's body. She kept her hand at a good inch or so away from his chest, and Milfred's body began to glow the same color of the ball. It only lasted for about ten seconds, then it was gone. Then Milfred sat up, and everyone gasped. There was not a scratch on him, he looked around, and noticed everyone looking at him. He looked at his hands, he knew what had happened, but he did not know why he was alive. In a typical fashion, he shoved me away, and bolted upright, Sarah following in a slower fashion. He tried to talk, but nothing was coming out, but we all knew what he wanted to know. No one talked, no one, but we all stared, even me and Tay. He turned to Sarah, and she was looking down, her eyes red from the tears.  
  
"I.I'm sorry." she said, "I don't.know.what.." She couldn't finish, she just walked off, the crowd of stunned teenagers backing away as if by a force field. Milfred didn't know what had happened, he looked around, and his eyes stopped at me. I was too busy staring at Sarah to notice him staring at me, much less care about it. I looked up, he was glaring at me with a hatred I have never seen. He snorted, and went off after Sarah, pushing the closed gap of kids out of the way. It took a while of recuperating, but everyone eventually slid off the huddle. I walked over to Jack, who was standing next to Drake, smiling serenely, Jack's mouth was gaping wide open.  
  
"That was certainly an interesting spectacle." I heard Tay say.  
  
"What.happened back there?" I asked, not expecting an answer.  
  
"Well, I think that our little Sarah is hiding something," Tay answered, putting her hand under Jack's chin and slamming his mouth shut, "As her friend's we should go see what the problem.."  
  
She stopped, we heard a sinister chuckling coming near Jack. It was Drake.  
  
"He got what he deserved. I'll see you guys in a couple weeks." And he left. I noticed Jack and Tay glaring at him, but I wasn't. I was astounded by his strength and his almost sinister chuckling. But most importantly, I was astounded at the feeling. I felt it, me and Jack both did. We felt our hearts shrink when we tried to hold him back, like they didn't want to even look at him. We were frightened, we were.in complete terror.  
  
I should have known then. I should have figured that SOMETHING, was going to happen. But I didn't. Love and my immaturity blinded me otherwise.  
  
  
  
THE END 


	2. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Blue

Magic: The Gathering and all of it's colors are property of Wizards of the Coast.  
  
************* Chapter 2- Colors: Prelude to Death-Blue *************  
  
Hiya! Nice to meet ya! My name's Jack! You know my buddy Jesse, don't ya? Well that's alright if you don't, cause this ain't about him. You know, that kid is WAY too serious, even before all of this happened. Well, I can't really blame him, at least sometimes. But you don't have to listen to me talk about our problems, so listen to a very, very blue tale.  
  
It was about a month after the incident with Sarah, and soon the school was split into two groups, the group that were so fascinated, or were so scared of Sarah that they nearly fell in love with her, or they were so freaked out or afraid of her that they avoided her like the plague, which was odd for her, being as she had the personality that no one could hate. We, that is to say, me and the other two, still hung around her and treated her like we always did.like a goddess.  
  
"I just don't understand it." She said in a sadder-than-usual tone. Just last week, muscle boy Milfag dumped her. Why? He told her because it wasn't working out, we all knew it was because he was freaked out by a girl with strange powers. But like I said, we didn't mind, she was still Sarah to us, in fact, she seemed to fit in better than usual.  
  
"I've been listening in the bathroom," Tayliana said, "Some of the girl's are calling you a witch." Speaking of witch, don't listen to what Jesse said earlier, she's a real bitch. So what if she has long legs, a nice even tan, large breasts.beautiful, shiny black hair.well I mean! Look what I'm saying, and SHE gets mad whenever I can't take my gaze of her boobs. She always gets on my case, sometimes I just can't stand her.  
  
"Don't worry Sarah," I heard Jesse assure her, and I say that because I usually walk behind them, in case I have to quickly break away when the conversation goes.weird, "I'm sure no one will try anything, it's not like you did anything wrong."  
  
And it was starting to get weird. I'm not into that mushy stuff. I would have gone off and booby trapped some freshman's locker, but then we reached Sarah's locker. I knew something was wrong, I noticed the hinges on her locker slightly straining, more so than usual. (When you're a pranker, you notice these things.) She opened her locker and, WHOOSH!, out came every piece of garbage known to man. On the inside of her door, and in the middle of her locker, were the words "SATAN'S BITCH!" written in red paint.  
  
"Seems as if Alexandra and the others needed to work on their snart." Tay said, who has an annoying little habit of mixing words together. Oh, did I forget to mention there was a third group? The third group is actually a little odd for a public school, the Roman-Catholic group. Now, I'm not atheist or anything, nor am I against the Catholic religion.but for Christ's sake, they have to get over themselves! In short, they've been taught to believe their religion is better than others, and have been taught to "teach" their beliefs on others. And being so, "close to God," as they are, they automatically assume anything dealing with the Wican religion is an act of worship to the devil. And Sarah's little trick certainly did raise some questions.  
  
I leaned in closer to the locker, "They certainly are naturals at it, the letters are in perfect aligning." I heard Tay growling at me, so I looked back to see them. I saw Tay, glaring down at me, Jesse, his face red with anger for the idiots who did this. He doesn't hide his emotions very well. I also noticed that Sarah.was gone. "Sarah?"  
  
We all looked around to see where she could have gone. It wasn't like her to run off like this, cause one, she didn't get angry or upset enough to do this, and two, she ALWAYS told Jesse or Tay where she was going. But Tay, who was a local of the girls bathroom gossip, that is, by accident or force, (she's a little bit of a tomboy), figured that Sarah was sitting on a toilet somewhere.  
  
  
  
We went through three different bathrooms and a locker room, (it's a big school) before we found the can that Sarah had planted herself. Tay had gone in, being as we can't, although I wish. Even with a door blocking us, we could hear poor Sarah's sorrowful sobs as if they were right next to us. I looked over at Jesse.  
  
"This is so unlike her," I told him, "Whenever she would get angry, she'd always come to one of us, usually you or Tay." I noticed by his frown he was not in the mood to discuss Sarah, so I talked about something else, "I- I'm not the kind of person you can come to. But YOU! You have a knack for dealing with trouble! I'm not though, I'll just tell them to 'get a drink ,' a-and that's that. But you know what to say! You know the right words, at the right.."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
So I shut up. We waited about ten minutes, before Tay poked her head out of the bathroom.  
  
"What did you get out of her?" I asked.  
  
"Nothing really, just 'I'm a freak. I'm a freak. I'm a freak.'" She answered in her overly sarcastic tone. She looked over at Jesse and grabbed his shirt, "I think you should talk to her." And she ripped him into the bathroom. I just stood a little dumbfounded, looked around to make sure no one was coming, and slipped into the bathroom. Me and Jesse, we stick together, like two peas in a pod, a pair of underwear, stuff like that.  
  
The bathroom was nice. Nicer than the men's room. A little too pink for my comfort, oh sorry! I noticed that the sobbing had gotten louder, and I followed Tay and Jesse to a closed door of a bathroom stall.  
  
"Never been in the girl's room before." I said, trying to lighten the mood, but Tay just glared at me. Jesse leaned close to the door and whispered into it.  
  
"Sarah?"  
  
The sobbing had stopped for a while, and she answered, "J-Jesse?"  
  
"Wh-wh-what's the matter?"  
  
"What's the matter?!" she burst out, "I'm a freak, that's what the matter is!" And the sobbing continued.  
  
"I take back what I said."  
  
"Shut up Jack." Tay hissed at me.  
  
'"W-Well Sarah, it isn't your fault. I mean, an angel such as you can't be a.."  
  
"Oh Jesse! Then what happened?! I mean.I was leaning over him, and I thought for SURE he was going to die right in front of my eyes! And then.then.."  
  
"Sarah?"  
  
"I.I heard a voice."  
  
"A voice?"  
  
"A VOICE JESSE! A VOICE! It.it told me that I could help him! It told me that it.that it was time. I asked it how, and it told me to hold out my hand. Then it told me to think about him, think about him when he was in good health. And then it happened.and.and.and.." She was gasping for air, "And.I.knew what to do. I don't know how I knew.I just knew. And I.expanded it, I grew it to a level that.that I knew would heal him."  
  
"But you didn't KNOW that there was something special about you. You didn't know beforehand you.had special powers." The sobbing began to stop, she was at short, raspy breaths now. "Honestly.I always thought there was something special about you." I rolled my eyes, this was exactly the weird stuff that I was talking about, and when I looked over at Tay, it seemed that she shared the same view. We waited for about a minute, then the door opened up, very slowly. Sarah stepped out, her eyes red from crying so hard, and she forced a smile.  
  
"I'm sorry." she said, "I don't know what came over me. This isn't usually like me." She wiped some tears away, this time, they were tears of happiness, I can tell that much at least. She gave everyone a hug, even me, who didn't really say anything. I guess it was just for being there, I guess. She seemed to give Jesse the longest hug of them all, in fact, she didn't want to let go. But I know Jesse, he would either pass this off as compassion, or wouldn't notice it. Of course, when you're two guys in a girl's bathroom that usually never leads to anything good. As soon as Sarah let go of him, some stuff fell out of her pockets. Nothing special, just some pens, a pencil, maybe a couple sticky notes, nothing important. As soon as they hit the ground, "I'll get it!" Me and Jesse both hit the floor, quickly picking up everything in near record timing. Why near? As we picked up the last of her items, we noticed two wrinkled, high heeled ankles standing in the middle of us. We slowly looked up the body (it wasn't pleasant), of our chemistry teacher, Mrs. Cramer. Every year the freshman would ask her how the dinosaurs died, but me and the other juniors, naw, we knew better than that. We'd ask her if Adam was a good a lover as God intended him to be. Heh heh. Anyways, she didn't like us, any of us. Well, except for Sarah, but then nobody could hate Sarah, at least her personality and looks. But, the old crone had it in for men and women who were within two feet of each other.  
  
"SO Mr. Johnson, Reynolds, Tohana, Harrison." We all looked at her nervously, "Oh no, don't let me stop you, it'll just give me more reasons to suspend you."  
  
Me and Jesse got up and looked at the girls, then Sarah spoke up, "M-Miss Cramer.."  
  
"No but's! Come with me."  
  
  
  
Well, I'm sure everyone knows how a trip to the principal's office goes, especially when he or she has had a stick up his ass for the past thirty years. Even Sarah was hardly spared, and SHE had nothing to do with our little intrusion. But she's real good, she doesn't get mad often, or upset, actually seeing her in tears like that wrenched something in my heart. Oh don't get me wrong, she's just a friend. There's no doubt she's beautiful, long, golden hair, silky white skin, not too white, but juuuust, right. Boy do I get off track. Anyways, school had just ended for the day, and me and Jesse were walking down the hallway talking to each other.well, me talking to him.  
  
"Can you believe it?! He gave US detention for something we had NO control over, and he gave Sarah one, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Jesse wasn't much of a talker, he was a listener, and I'm glad for that. I couldn't stand listening to me talk. He would usually smile, sometimes laugh, but he's a cool kid, too uptight though.  
  
"Well, he IS related to Milfred." I laughed, sometimes he can make a good joke. "So," he said, "Is Tay driving us to the mall today or are we walking?"  
  
Subsequently, she's the only one who could drive. Sarah had her drivers permit, but her father just got canned, so she takes it REAL easy on the driving, meaning never. Jesse's parents are over-protective, they don't let him leave for school without telling them where he's going, and me.well my parents don't trust me behind a two ton can of metal that can go up to 100 miles per hour. I like fast things.  
  
"Perhaps you can get your mom to let you take that Jaguar for a spin." I was joking of course, but he still glared at me. I laughed, in a mocking way of sorts, and behind his head I noticed a shadowy figure watching us. It was Drake, and he was watching us.menacingly. A small smirk was on his face, and when he noticed that I was looking at him, he smiled wider turned around and walked away. I watched him disappear behind a car, before we ran into Sarah and Tay.  
  
"Are you guys ready to go?" Tay asked us, twirling her car keys around her finger. "Unless of course you want to change your diaper before we go." She said, obviously directing it at me. I just smiled and laughed.  
  
"Only if you're the one changing them."  
  
"Ha ha. In your dreams pervert." She snarled at me, and led us all to her Ford P.O.S. truck. I was always afraid to ride in it because I was afraid my seat would fall out from under me. But still, it was rare that everyone in our little group had enough time to get together like this after school, so, I jumped in. Sarah was in the front with Tay, me and Jesse sat in the back  
  
"Buckle up everyone." Sarah called out. I never wore my seat belt though, it always annoyed me. I heard Tay's truck backfire, and my heart skipped a beat. I hate Fords, I hate trucks, and I hate anything made before 1980. This thing avoided none of my pet peeves.  
  
It's a fairly long drive to the mall, about a thirty minute drive. He were about halfway there when we had to pass over a bridge. It was a pretty sturdy bridge, a little rusty, but still good. What was odd about this bridge was that it was high above the ground it was supposed to be protecting us from. Yeah, that's right. We were just about to go over it while Tay was too busy arguing with me.  
  
"Listen, I am NOT driving over to the Club 69!" She screamed at me. It was an open gentlemen's club, and I was feeling a bit gentlemanly, so I told her that.  
  
"In other words, you mean a strip club." I heard Jesse comment from beside me, he was always good at ruining a good mood. This argument continued for several seconds now, before something odd happened. The tires slipped. On what, I don't know. It was the end of fall, no snow, no rain, but the tires still slipped. We skidded sideways for about a yard, then, we sent straight forward. What shocked us into a speechless state beforehand, scared the shit out of us as everyone screamed at the top of their lungs. We went straight through the guard rail. I don't even recall hitting it. We plummeted straight down and I swore I saw my life flash before my eyes. It was short, unfulfilled, and lacking of one important quality I wanted more than anything, sex. Okay, so I'm somewhat of a pervert! The next few seconds were a quick prayer, and something about my family, I don't remember exactly. Then we hit the ground, and I flew forward. By the way, I wear my seat belt from now on. I was unconscious for a minute or so. I've had a few knocks to the head before, so I was resistant to blows to the head. I felt that my waist was hanging over something, and I was in a lot of pain. 'Well, I guess this is it," I thought, "I'm dead. I wonder if there are Victoria Secret Models in Heaven." I sighed in ecstasy, and noticed my nose was itching. I opened my eyes and saw my nose was in the back of Tay's head. I slowly reached up to move her head..  
  
"Don't.touch.me.." I heard Tay said. My eyes shot wide open and looked up, catching myself from falling downwards. I looked out the window and noticed something very strange.  
  
I could see the ground, but it wasn't smashed into the windshield, like I thought it would be. It was actually about four feet from it. Then I noticed that the ground was kinda hazy, so I took a closer look, and saw why. I was a little amazed at first, but I had to look out the side windows, and the back. We were, the truck, was enclosed within a giant, blue, bubble-like thing. Like a shield almost. I quickly glanced over at Jesse and Sarah, who just happened to woke up, then back at Tay. Her arms were outstretched, with one hand grasping the back of the other, and they were blue. Her hands were glowing blue. Amazed as I was, I looked over into her face and saw the look of determination, her teeth gritting so hard she could have bit steel in half. Sweat ran into her eyes, and she forcefully closed them. Then I felt the truck slam into the ground a second time, and then fall over onto its back. There was silence for a while, as I lay on the ceiling, Tay's hair tickling my face. They all had they're seatbelts on, so they were hanging for a little whiles.  
  
"Tay?" I asked. A look of annoyance on her face, and petrified one on the other two.  
  
"What, Jack?"  
  
"Next time we go out somewhere, please smack me if you're the one who's driving."  
  
There was another slight pause, then I heard her say, "Okay Jack. Sure." In a, relieved sort of way actually.  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, to make a long story short, we got out of the ravine, except for the truck that is. Not that I really cared. An ambulance had come to pick us up, cause there were other drivers around. I think they were more amazed that the car actually made it through with only being turned upside down, then the fact we were okay. Covered in a blanket, I looked over at Sarah and Jesse who were sitting in the back of the ambulance, and one of the paramedics walked over to them. I heard him say, "We called you're parents, they're heading over to the hospital now." Jesse thanked them, and continued to talk to Sarah, most likely trying to comfort her. Tay walked over to them, and I began just walking around the road, just exploring. All the whiles listening to their conversation.  
  
"Sarah? What happened?" Tay asked her, "I mean, last month, what happened?"  
  
"I heard a voice."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What did it sound like?"  
  
There was a pause, then Sarah spoke up again, "It.it sounded like me.except.except that, I knew it wasn't."  
  
Another pause, then with a tone of sadness, I heard Tay say, "Oh.okay."  
  
I began to walk around some more, then I noticed something, that I hadn't before. I called out to Jesse and the others, and they quickly ran over to me, asking what the problem was.  
  
"Look." I pointed at the guard rail, which obviously wasn't very good at guarding. However, why it didn't came as a complete shock to me.  
  
"What?" I heard Sarah said.  
  
I walked closer to the edge of the ravine, and ran my hand along the edge of the open metal, "Look at it.it's been cut through. It's been cut clean through."  
  
"So? We did hit going at some speed." Tay answered.  
  
I turned around and started raising my voice a little, "Listen! We hit this thing going at around thirty to forty miles an hour, right?" They nodded, and I motioned my hand to the rail, "If we HIT it, going at that speed, don't you think there should at least be a DENT, or something in there?!" I noticed that I actually stunned them silent, see, my brain IS good for something, "And look at how the pieces are. If we were to hit it hard enough to force it in two, the piece of metal would have been mutilated, shards of metal would have been scattered, the large piece of metal would have shown some sort of resistance to the blow, a jagged edge or something, and the wood holding it up would most likely have been broken somewhere from the ground level up."  
  
They, were, silent. Not one of them talked, until Sarah that is, "My gosh.he's right."  
  
Tay walked over to where I was standing and ran her hand up the edge of it, "Maybe, maybe it was cut before hand, and when we hit it, it.."  
  
"No," I heard Jesse said, "Like Jack said, there would have to be at least ONE dent in the metal. This looks like it has been sliced cleanly down the middle and then just PUSHED out of our way."  
  
"But that's impossible," I argued, "To be able to do that you'd have to stop time or something!"  
  
There was another long pause again, as we looked around to make sure no one was listening, then Tay, from her one-knee position on the ground, began to spoke up.  
  
"I.I.I have something to tell you guys."  
  
We all looked at her, she got up and walked into the middle of our group, "W-when we were plummeting, I felt something weird. It took me a while to figure it out, because I think it's cause I had my eyes closed. When.when I opened them, everything.was stopped." We just stared at her, "Nothing.was moving, not the car, not you guys, not anything. Then.Sarah.." She looked over at her, and this was the first time I had seen Tayliana with tears of sadness in her eyes, "I.heard.a voice, in my head. It sounded like me, it sounded EXACTLY like me! It told me, it told me.."  
  
*Flashback* 'Do not let them die. You must not let them die. They are your hope, Tayliana Tohana, they are your thoughts, they are your dreams. They are what keep you you. If you are to lose them, then you have no chance at happiness ever. You love them, don't you? You don't want them to be hurt, do you?! Tayliana Tohana! Embrace your gift! You know you have it! From the bottom of your heart to your every bones, you know you have a gift inside you! Embrace it Tayliana! Throw your hands out in front of you, and do what you know you can do, to protect every one of your friends! Every part.of your SOUL!'  
  
I didn't know about the other two, but that whole "soul" part made me nervous. We didn't speak much for the remainder of the day, but we all made it back to our homes safely.and grounded!  
  
***********************  
  
THE END 


	3. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Red

Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast.  
  
**************** Chapter 3- Colors: A Prelude to Death-Red ****************  
  
Hello there, it's nice to meet you. Have you been following our story so far? It's kind of confusing, isn't it? It certainly was for us when this all started. We had no idea what was happening, or even what was going to happen. But then, you never really do. Oh, I'm sorry. Please forgive my inconsideration. My name, is Sarah Harrison. The, first of our.well, group as I like to call it, to find our, little secret. But my story is long past, and about a week after Tayliana's was done, someone else's began.  
  
Like I said, it was only a week or so after our accident. No one was hurt, so I'm thankful for that. Of course, we all got in trouble one way or another. I got a lecture about why not to distract the driver, but that's all. I just told Jesse and the others that so I wouldn't look like the outcast again. My parents are very lenient, perhaps a bit too. But it's not that I do it for my popularity, it's just.I don't know what I'd do if Jesse and the others stopped being my friends.  
  
We were just returning home, well, I was at least. Tay and the others still had detentions from last week, all my fault of course. I rode the bus, like always, and as always, I was one of the last to get off the bus. The others, they don't ride the bus anymore, and I can see why. Tay has her truck, although for the past week, she's been driving her dad's Lincoln. Jesse lived close enough where he could walk home. Jack was the only inconsistent one. Sometimes he rode with Tay, just to make fun of her truck. I never knew what those two would talk about when they're alone, although one time when she was supposed to drive him home, I saw him halfway to his house, walking. Hee hee. Others times, though, he would hitch a ride with one of his other friends, or he'd walk home with Jesse. On this day, he was walking home, since they both had detention. I arrived home at around 3:15, and noticed my parents weren't home.  
  
'Probably out looking for jobs.' I thought to myself. They're real good people, they always try hard to maintain our family. However, today, turned out to be a lot different than usual. As soon as I sat my bag on the bed, I heard the phone ring. Slowly, I turned around and began walking to the pedestal where our phone was.  
  
"Coming!" I called out. Small habit, but everyone does it, don't they? I answered the phone, and, I like to answer in a happy tone.  
  
I smiled wide, and said, a little loud, "Hello! Harrison residence! This is.."  
  
"SARAH! Where the hell have you been?! A voice screamed in my ear. I jumped in surprise.  
  
"Wha-? Ja-Jack? Aren't you supposed to be in detention?"  
  
"Jesse-! Wait, we had detention today?"  
  
"Hmm, what about Jesse?"  
  
"Sarah! You won't believe this! Me and Jesse were walking home today, and, and.."  
  
I was beginning to get worried, "What happened? What happened to Jesse, Jack?"  
  
"Sarah.he was kidnapped! In front of my own eyes!"  
  
  
  
  
  
To make a long story short, I waited impatiently for about an hour or so for Tay to get home, then I called her and we both raced over to Jesse's house where his parents and Jack were waiting for us. We stayed there for what seemed like an eternity, me and Tay trying to comfort Jesse's parents, and Jack explaining to the police what happened.  
  
"Well officer," I heard him say, "We didn't hear over the announcement today that we had detention, and like usually, we walked home together. Then we took the way we always took to get to his house, and then." I noticed that he was a little hesitant, "this, white van, came up and a couple pale lookin' guys dressed in black robes jumped out and punched me out. Then when I woke up, Jesse was gone."  
  
I noticed the police officer had his eyes fixed on his notepad, as he jotted down everything that Jack told him. Then he put the notepad back into his pocket and walked over to Jesse's mom, who, despite mine and Tay's efforts, was still crying madly. We just let him past and then walked over to Jack.  
  
"Never thought Jesse would be the one to get kidnapped." Tay said from behind me, "I always thought Jack would be the first, being as he's a dick to everyone."  
  
"Tay!" I yelled at her. She just gave me an odd look. "I think we should stay here and wait until the police leave to see if Mr. and Mrs. Johnson need anything, agreed?"  
  
"Oh definitely." Tay agreed.  
  
I waited for a while, in silence, then I looked over at Jack, "Jack?" He glanced up at me, and I could tell something was unusual about him. After all the years I've known him, he'd always been a joking, carefree kid, who was never serious, even when he was in a fight. He looked back down at the ground, and in a low voice, said, "Yeah, alright."  
  
I couldn't quite place my finger on it at first, but while we were waiting for the police to leave, I thought of something. In all the time I knew Jack, he had been in many fights, and in all those fights he's been in, he hadn't lost one. Even against several kids, he had pulled through somehow. And then.and then I thought, maybe, his jaw wasn't the only thing that got hurt when those thugs jumped him.  
  
About two more hours passed, and it was getting dark. The police cars were just pulling out of the driveway, and Mrs. Johnson was still crying her eyes out. We had asked if they needed anything, but Mr. Johnson politely told us they were fine, and thanked us all for trying to comfort them. Then we proceeded to the Tay's car.  
  
"So," Tay said, "Do you either of you two need a lift home?"  
  
"No thank you Tay," I said, "My mom's coming to pick me up."  
  
"Okay, how 'bout you?"  
  
Jack didn't answer her, he was just leaning against her car, and had a very disturbed look on his face.  
  
"Hey! I'm talking to you Jack!"  
  
"Shut up.." I heard him whisper. Both me and Tay stood back in surprise, then she grew angry and began marching up to him.  
  
"Now you see here! I WAS trying to be nice! But I see that you can still be an asshole, even when your best friend is kidnapped right in front of your eyes!" She stopped for a moment, and was breathing heavily, whether from anger or the fact that Jesse might have been gone forever, I don't know. Then I saw her shoulders loosen and then began to talk to him in a less angered, less irritated voice, "Listen Jack. We're all hurt that someone did this to him. Probably none more so than you, but there was nothing you could have done. There was nothing I could have done, and nothing Sarah could have done." She let her arms fall to her sides, "And there's nothing we can do now."  
  
My heart almost skipped when Jack's head shot up. I knew, EXACTLY what he was thinking, then he turned to Tay, and with more seriousness in his eyes than I have seen in a person, "Tay, I need a favor."  
  
Tay's face turned red, "Wha-what do you want?"  
  
Jack furrowed his brow, "I know where they are. I know where they've taken Jesse."  
  
"WHAT?!" We both yelled.  
  
"If you knew why didn't you tell the police?!" I yelled at him.  
  
"Because this is just a hunch, and if Jesse IS there, I would have to do a lot of explaining to the police."  
  
"That's absurd!" I yelled.  
  
"You've lost it now Jack! After what happened last week you REALLY expect me to take you to a place where a couple of kidnappers are?! Do you realize that my parent's are STILL bitching at me for not being careful enough last time?!" Her pants became prolonged and raspy and was glaring at Jack with incredible anger.  
  
And Jack was glaring back, although more determined than angry, "Listen Tay, you can either drive me there, or I'll take your car keys by force. It's your choice"  
  
I was stunned silent. I looked at the two, Tay holding her breath as her face turned red, and Jack, with the calmest yet most determined look on his face that I have ever seen. They stood for some whiles. Then Tay pushed him aside and opened the back door.  
  
"Get in the damn car!" Jack smiled serenely, and stepped into the car, never taking his eyes off of Tay. When he got in, she slammed the car door and stormed around to the driver's side, cursing and mumbling to herself. As she got in, I immediately opened the passenger door and jumped in as well. As I put on my seatbelt I noticed Tay glaring at me, with more shock than anything.  
  
"I'm Jesse's friend too you know! I care about him just as much as either of you two!" I could see the stupefied expression on her face, and I would have giggled, if not for the seriousness of the situation. Then she started cursing herself again, backed the car up, and drove off down the road. All the while still cursing under her breath.  
  
"I can't believe I'm doing what that asshole." she stopped herself, and yelled back to Jack, "Alright Hunch boy! You got one chance to hunch your way into a whole mess of trouble!"  
  
"McClenan road. The old rundown warehouse."  
  
"Alright, but if I don't see AT LEAST one Nazi, I'm driving your ass back home!"  
  
There was a dead silence from the back, and I knew he wasn't going to answer, so I looked over at Tay, "A Nazi?"  
  
She looked at me nervously, then the road, me, then the road, "It was the first thing that came to mind. Sorry."  
  
"Oh." I sat again in deep silence, then I turned back to Tay and asked her for her cell phone. She gave it to me, and I was just about to call when I heard Jack's voice from behind me.  
  
"You're not going to let them get away with that." At least that's what I thought I heard, I looked back at him.  
  
"Huh? What did you say Jack?" I asked.  
  
Jack looked up at me in surprise, then looked back down, "Nothing. I didn't say anything."  
  
"I didn't hear anything either Sarah." Tay also replied. "Maybe the stress has gotten to you, we should go.."  
  
"You turn this car around and I'll rip your breast off." Jack interrupted quickly. I looked over at Tay who had, on instinct, clasped her right breast and had a look of horror, and anger. Well, the thing is.never mind, I'll tell you about it later. No one said a word to each other the rest of the way there.  
  
  
  
McClenan road was only a seven minute drive from Jesse's house, so we were there in no time. It was also a pretty barren road. Not many houses, a lot of forest, and one semi-open field, where the old warehouse Jack requested to go right in the middle of it. Rundown was actually putting it nicely, I still don't see how it was still standing up. A little bit of red paint was left, but it was only chips now, and the wood was so dry a spark could have lit it up like the Fourth of July. We slowly pulled to a stop at the edge of the road and we all got out of the car.  
  
"I called my parents," I told them, "I told them I was staying a little longer and that you were bringing me home Tay."  
  
"If we get home." She responded sourly.  
  
Jack just got out of the car as I walked next to Tay, "Now now, Jack said this was just a hunch of his. No offense Jack, but there's no proof that Jesse is going to be here. Right Jack?"  
  
Jack was in deep silence, and his face was in the air, almost like he was smelling something, "They're here." He said, and began to storm across the road. I looked over at Tay, more worried this time, but her eyes were fixated on Jack, and they were more angry then ever. She slammed the car door and caught up to Jack. I rushed along side them too, and I could feel it. Jack was right. I don't know how, but he was right. And Tay knew it too.  
  
Jack led us up to the door of the warehouse, and noticed it was about to come right off its hinges. I looked over at him and said, "Now Jack. Let's just quietly sneak in there and.." I never got to finish as Jack grabbed the door with one hand and ripped it right off the wall. It crashed with a loud sound of a thud, and rusty metal banging against each other. I, for one, scared me half-to-death and jumped sideways to grab ahold of Tay's arm. I quickly found out that Jack's determination also startled Tay, who quickly wrapped her arms around me, and, being a little bit taller then me.well, you know. We quickly let go of each other and slowly followed Jack. We were both scared, but Tay was better at hiding hers. I was cringing a little bit, but just a little. I noticed, for an old warehouse, it was pretty big, and a lot of hay in it. 'Must still be in use," I thought.  
  
We walked down one wide aisle, with the hay stacked up in rows to our sides. And.and I could have sworn I heard Jack say, "They're here. You know they're here. You can smell them in the air. You can even taste them." I didn't ask this time though, because as soon as we hit one of the last rows, Jack looked to his right and yelled out, "Jesse!"  
  
He sprinted down the aisle as me and Tay just look down that way. There he was! Besides for being unconscious, he seemed alright! We both rushed over to his aid, and Jesse immediately woke up. I couldn't bear the excitement of seeing him okay, when I wrapped my arms around him and just started hugging him, yelling "Did they hurt you?! I'm so glad you're okay!" Next to me I could hear Tay about to start crying as she lectured Jesse about how he should be more careful. I didn't care though, I was just glad he was alright. Jack, however, remained quiet, and motionless. Tay noticed too.  
  
"Hey Jack! You awake there! Jesse's okay, can't you see that?!" But Jack remained still. Sweat was dripping off his chin, and his chest rose high every time he took a breath. And then, without any warning, without his lips moving at all, I heard him say, "Behind you!"  
  
Tay and Jesse must have hear it too, as they both turned around to look at two shadowy figures perched high on the hay bails. Their shoulders were humongous, but their bodies was draped in a thick, dark robe. I tried to get a better look, and noticed that something was coming out of their hoods, but before I could get a good look at it, I heard Jack's voice burst out, even though his lips only quivered.  
  
"There! They are right in front of you! Do you not see them?! Attack! Attack now! Teach them what happens when they mess with you!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Jack hollered, this time through himself, "LEAVE ME ALONE! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"  
  
As the three of us recoiled from Jack's sudden burst of insanity, the two figures leaped straight at us. I screamed as Jesse through me and Tay out of the way and landed right beside us. I quickly looked up to see Jack try to punch the one, but it slid off its robe, and the figure's odd-shaped foot came swiping at his face. Jack slid off to the side, his cheek swollen from the blow. I barely had time to fix my gaze off of him, before I realized the other figure and made another leap straight towards us again. I screamed and felt Jesse's body drape around mine but when I noticed nothing had happened, I peeked out to see Tay's hand had once again started glowing and created another one of her "shields." It screamed in a high pitched, un-earthly voice, and flipped away from us. As it landed, its odd face slowly turned to where Jack and the other creature were, deep in combat. I could here the other figure's horrible screech as it continued to kick a downed Jack, who was grunting every time he blocked it. He was in a lot of pain, we all could tell. But we couldn't help him because every time we tried to get up the other figure would attack us, and we'd always have to retreat back. Just as we were picking ourselves up from one of the attacks, we heard Jack howl in pain. His arm couldn't hold out any longer.  
  
I heard Tay scream his name and the figure just stood over him. Jack was hunched over in pain and his arm was holding his side. He slowly looked up at the figure, who staring right back at him. Then Jack lunged and caught the creature off guard. He almost made a direct hit, but barely missed again, this time grabbing a hold of the robe. He grasped it firmly, and began swinging it in circles, completely off the ground. We all heard the robe rip off of its body, as it went soaring into a large pile of hay, several bails falling on top of it. Even though Jack was exhausted, and drained of energy, he still smiled, happy of his victory. All of a sudden, the figure burst out of the hay, screeching at the top of its lungs, and we all got a look at it.  
  
It was a bird, a large, large bird. But, at the same time, it wasn't. It walked on two legs, just like a human would. And it had two arms. Not wings, arms. Well it had wings too, large wings at that. They had to be larger than the any human I had ever seen. And it was noticeably furious, another human-like feature. It reached for a bail of hay, and launched it at Jack, who was too stunned at the creature to move. It hit him dead on, and he flew backwards, tumbling into more hay, and ending up laying on several bails, unconscious. The creature turned away from him and then looked towards us.  
  
"Jack!" I heard Jesse yell, as he tried to run to his aid. But the still- cloaked creature was quickly on him. Jesse swung, but with incredible speed, it caught his arm, and smacked him away. He lay their, trembling from pain and anger on the floor, as the creature threw off its robe. It was much like them other one, except where this one's feathers were brown, the others were black. It stormed over to Jesse's body and with both hands gripped his head. I screamed in terror as it started to slowly turn his head, and Tay launched herself to help him, but as fast as the wind itself the other one was upon her. It grabbed her neck and lifted her high in the air. I was scared, too scared to do anything but stand there. But a different kind of fear came over me, and I too, tried effortlessly to attack our attackers. With one swipe however, I too was thrown away, near Jack's lifeless body. I began to cry, tears started pouring down my face, I was scared, I was.so, scared. And then.I heard a voice.Jack's.  
  
"What is it you want?"  
  
"To win."  
  
"What did they hurt?"  
  
"My friends."  
  
"No."  
  
"My pride."  
  
"Yes. And what must you do to win?"  
  
"To be more powerful than them."  
  
"Can you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Wrong. You, Jack Reynolds, DO have the power."  
  
"I can't move."  
  
"But you can. Fear tells you you can't. Fear thinks it's better to just give up. But there's something telling you you can. Those creatures, those bird freaks, may have hurt your pride, but they didn't kill it. It lays still, it's urging you on, but you can't hear it. Your pride, is too small for you to hear anything, you can only hear fear, cause right now, it's larger than the entire world to you."  
  
There was silence for a while, then I heard it speak up again.  
  
"Look up Jack, what do you see?"  
  
"It's.a lamp. An old one."  
  
"What is in the lamp?"  
  
".....Gas?"  
  
It chuckled, "No. Fire. Fire is what is inside it, as it is with you. And as it fuels the lamp, it fuels your body. Jack Reynolds, YOU, are a Red Mage!"  
  
"Wha-?"  
  
"YOU! Jackson Reynolds! Will not let some freak of nature win at a game where he cannot win! Now repeat after me! I, am Jackson Reynolds!"  
  
I saw Jack's hand move, as he began to lift himself up, "I.am Jackson.Reynolds."  
  
"I am a sorcerer, and a fighter, of red mana!"  
  
"I.am a sorcerer.and a FIGHTER, of red, mana!"  
  
Jack was now standing straight up now, and the two creatures had let go of Tay and Jesse and were fixated on Jack now.  
  
"And I will not let some.!"  
  
"Over-bearing, cock-sucking, vomit-eating, mother-fucking BIRD, destroy the only things left that I HAVE, IN THIS GOD-DAMNED WORLD!"  
  
The lamp then exploded in a giant fireball, sending fire throughout the left side of the barn. It quickly got hold of the old wood, and engulfed it in a wall of flame. I had to back away from it slightly, but Jack didn't budge an inch. The flames were right behind him, nicking him in the back. But it didn't seem to bother him, in fact, he looked like he liked it. The once muscle tense, white knuckle stance he had, began to rest, as he slowly stood straight up. He smiled. Not anything sinister, or evil, just smiled. Then, from both sides of him, two large strands of flame came down from the wall and made a direct b line for the birds, one of them nearly catching my hand.  
  
They swerved in and out, as they both brushed by Jesse and Tay. The fire was moving incredibly fast, but besides for the awkward movement, never spread outside of its path. Each strand went for one of the birds, but as one was about to hit one of them, it ran right through its leg, straight towards the other one. As they both impacted, the bird was engulfed in an explosion of flames, as the mixture of heat and wind nearly knocking me out. The other bird stood there amazed, and turned to Jack, with a noticeable hatred in its eyes. It screeched at the top of its lungs, spread its enormous wings, and leaped at Jack. Jack continued to smile as he spread his hand out to his side, as a glove of fire surrounds his hand, the bird drew near.  
  
Jack didn't even flinch. Before the bird could swing, Jack had already formed a fist, and with his hand covered in flames, punched the bird square in the face. It reeled back screeching in pain and clutching its face. But I had no time to wonder, as Tay and Jesse needed my help.  
  
Tay was hurt, but well enough to be sitting up, Jesse was sprawled out on the floor, unconscious, I ran to him first, and did the same thing I did with Milfred. I concentrated on him, and him alone. I wanted him back in good health. I wanted him to be with me again. It took me a total of ten seconds before I created a glowing sphere, and administered it into him. I waited for a while, then he sat up and looked me right in the eye, kind of amazed. I hugged him, and quickly ran over to Tay.  
  
It took me just as long to heal her, and as she wearily stood up, I looked over to see Jack, still smiling, staring at the bird, who was still screeching.  
  
"JACK!" I yelled. His smile disappeared and his head shot over to me. "LET'S GO! PLEASE JACK, THIS PLACE IS GOING TO COLLAPSE!" As I said that, a burning beam fell next to us, and I couldn't help but scream. When I looked back over to Jack, he was already helping Jesse out the door.  
  
The fire had consumed the entire barn by now, and we had just gotten out in time. Well, almost. I saw Jack standing three feet in the barn, still staring at the bird, and still smiling. He lifted his hand into the air, and a odd feeling came over my body. And I wasn't the only one. Both Tay and Jesse had a funny look on their faces.  
  
Jack just stood there, waiting, for what, we were soon to find out. Soon, the fire began to dissipate, and from a vortex like cone around Jack's hand. As it all began to disappear from the walls and ceiling, it began to be condensed into a ball in Jack's hands. After a whole minute of this, there were still some fires on the floor and hay, but most of it was collected into a small.fireball. It looked really unstable though, but Jack didn't mind. With his hand still in the air, he firmly grasped it in his hand, and wound back like a baseball pitcher would. He threw it, and it took a total of three seconds to hit the bird.  
  
The explosion was tremendous, and were it not for the quick efforts of Tay and her shield, it probably would have blown us all away. I looked up, covering my eyes from the glare of the flame, as Jack emerged from the center of it, looking right at home. The shield faded, and all three of us faced Jack. He was about to speak when Tay cut him off.  
  
"I don't even want to here it! Just get in the car! You've caused enough trouble for today!"  
  
  
  
The rest of the night was more or less, less eventful. Tay, in another one of her moments of insanity, suggested that we stop about a mile from Jesse's house, drop him off, and he'll walk the rest of the way home and tell him that he escaped or that they let him go. Tay would drop off the rest of us, and we'd make up a story about where we were. Me, I told my parents most of the truth, that me and the others went out looking for Jesse, hoping to take him right back, but that we were unsuccessful. I did get in trouble, and got lectured about it, but, being that my dad found a job while I was out, their anger quickly turned to happiness. We celebrated the rest of the night with some pizza and nice conversation, but going to bed, I began to think. I began to think about this year, and all these strange."things" that has started to happen to me and my friends. It was really odd, but somehow, a lot more.comforting.  
  
*****************  
  
End Chapter 3 


	4. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Green

Magic: The Gathering and its colors are property and copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast.

Notes: Every so often I'll put these in to reply to reviews.  For one, I do apologize for what seems to be a lot of periods.  They are actually supposed to be pauses in what the characters thinking, narrating, or saying.  But when I send the document to ff.net, it removes the other periods, which are supposed to make it look like a pause, so you'll have to excuse me for that.  That is all.

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Colors:  A Prelude to Death-Green

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Hey, my name is Tay, and that's all you really need to know.  I don't like to get into much detail, but the others insist I do this, even though it would be easier to say it outright and leave it at that, they're sort of making me do this.

For what seemed like the longest time, nothing extraordinary had ever come up.  Those weird human-birds were the last exciting thing to happen, and our so-called "powers" were to be used.  Actually, it had only been a couple months, but just from those instances, everything else was becoming dull, and long.  But in actuality, we were just anxious, like we were waiting for something to happen.  And you know what they say, be careful of what you wish for.

Lessee, it was about, November that something happened to Jack, and the next one was in March, so about four or five months.  By that time, we had near but forgotten about our little events.  Jesse wasn't much of a talker, Sarah liked for someone else to start a conversation, and I just didn't want to plainly talk about.  Jack, however….

"It was so awesome!  I mean, making little balls of fire is one thing, but now…."

"You have great balls of fire?" I interrupted, taking a bite of my disgusting cafeteria lunch.

"Goodness gracious." I heard Jesse added monotone.  Then Sarah snorted, and even I couldn't help but crack a smile.  Even though I was too busy concentrating on ignoring the food, I still knew Jack was passing the entire table glares.  But he continued.

"Well, anyway, I was just screwin' around yesterday, you know?  Like I always do.  And I was just trying out my powers, and tried to create another one of those ball fire thing.  But when I was starting to get pissed because nothing was happening, I tried concentrating a little more and…." He looked over to the table were Milfred and his gang sat.  He motioned for all of us to come and look.  Sitting next to him, I glanced downwards to see him put his hand against the ground.  Nothing was happening, so I looked over at Milfred.  Then the oddest thing happened, the ground underneath his chair rose up into a very small hill, tipping his chair backwards before smacking his head off the ground.  The entire cafeteria burst out laughing as the hill melted back into the ground, unnoticed.  When I turned back around, I heard Sarah say.

"That wasn't nice Jack."

"Yeah I know, but the ass deserved it."

I took a drink of my milk and said, "So you can create bumps huh?  Must come in handy with your future job selection."

I heard him growl, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I just ignored him this time, but then, what I saw just then, and what I was going to see, was more odd and scarier than anything else that I have ever witnessed.

Across the room, I saw Drake Marshall begin walking around to our side of the room, with a lunch tray in his hands.  First of all, Drake NEVER eats lunch.  In fact, the only time he did, was when this whole mess with us started.  Secondly, he was moving into the crowded section of the cafeteria, and as far as we knew, Drake didn't associate himself with anybody.  In fact, second day he was here, some girl asked him out on a date, and he said something like, "Go away woman.  I have no time for you." But, after seeing what he did to Milf, I wasn't going to do anything so I continued eating.  But when I heard that chair next to me slide out, and that tray hitting the table, and that I was begging to GOD to not be him, I knew it was.  My head turned completely around to stare into the side of his face, which was eating at the moment.  I then looked over to the others, who had an even more dumbfounded and stupefied look on their face than I did.  I then listened that the noises the other kids were making, and there were none.  Not only had Drake's quick attitude change shock the hell out of us, it shocked the hell out of the entire classroom too.  Even the teacher who's there to watch us was stunned silent.  But still, even through all the silence, he continued to eat like normal.  I looked over to Sarah and Jesse, mouths still open, and eyeballs still huge.  I sorta motioned to them to keep eating, and they reluctantly did.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, said nothing the rest of lunch period.

Quick jump to the end of the day, when school was about to close, me and Sarah, who share last period together, were discussing about future plans.

"You wanna do something tonight?" I said, as I usually do.  My parents work late almost, every night, so I try and find something interesting to do while their gone, and, besides for Dopey and Grumpy, Sarah was my only good friend, and her parents work a lot too, so it was convenient for both of us.

"Um, okay.  Do you think that Jack and Jesse could come along?" She said.  I was going to agree, reluctantly, but then the bell rang, so we headed out of our Calculus class, which, I don't mean to brag, is one of my easier subjects.  I can tell by your silence that nobody told you that I AM the smartest among the four of us.

We began to walk to our locker near the end of the hall.  Sarah divided from me in the middle, as always, and I continue on.  As I bent down to pick up some of my bookbag, I felt a cold chill run down my spine.  I shot up and came face-to-face with Jack.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him.  He was looking kind of nervous.

"Tay…." He whispered, his eyes darting to his side and me, he then opened up the locker next to me, as if it was his and leaned into me.  "The freak's been following me."

"Wha-?" I turned around and looked up.  Sure enough, Drake Marshall was near the hall intersection, just standing, and watching us.   I turned back to Jack.  "Since when have you been so scared of him?"

"I'm not!" He looked around to make sure no one was listening.  "He's just weirding me out a little."

"Aw, does the poor wittle baby need big ol' Tay to take cawe of the mean man?" I couldn't resist.

"Does the big whore need wittle Jack to shove her in the locker?" And neither could he.  I sighed, and continued our talk.

"Look, he has a locker down here doesn't he?  He's probably just being himself and avoiding the crowd."

"He's been following me and Jesse since lunch."

"All in your head.  Now Sarah wants you and Jesse to come…."

"What's taking so long Tay?" I heard her gentle voice from behind me.  Of course, not expecting it, startled me a little so I whirled around that nearly threw me over.  "Sorry," she said, "Jack, are you coming?"

"Yup.  Sure am.  Long as I'm not here or home, I'll go anywhere."

I finished getting my stuff, and with the others, began walking back down the hall.  All the way, that cold chill followed me, because we were being followed.

"Is he still behind us?" I heard Jesse whisper to Jack.

"Yup.  Been following me since study hall."

"Who?" Sarah asked.

Jesse did a half-nod behind us, "Drake Marshall.  After lunch, he hasn't left a thirty yard radius from us."

"Pheh," I scoffed, "He's not even in any classes with you…."

"That's just it," Jesse interrupted, "We're not supposed to have any classes with him.  But every period he's been in the same classes as we have.  Mr. Kalina asked him why he was in his class, and Drake just glared at him."

Now I was starting to get worried.  I took a quick glance behind us, and sure enough, he was at about thirty yards away from us.

"Okay, so maybe he is following us." I looked down the hall and noticed that it split apart three ways.  "There's an intersection up there.  Jesse, you go right, Jack, you go left, me and Sarah will keep going straight.  We'll meet up at the parking lot" Everyone nodded, and when we reached our destination, we split up.  I was walking a little faster, as was Sarah.  For a while, I thought he had followed the other two.  But when I glanced back…there he was.  At that point, anything rational was gone, I grabbed Sarah's hand and we began to run down the hallway.  We ran for what seemed like a minute, until we crashed into what I thought was a brick wall.  Too bad it wasn't.

"What the fuck?" I heard a heavily-steroid voice say.  I looked up and Milfred was just looking down at us.  He smiled wickedly and called out to his friends, "Hey look guys.  The freaks wandered from their herd!" The sound of laughter filled the hall.  I just picked myself up, ignored them, and tried to get out of their quickly.  But some people just don't like to give up.

He was quick for a big guy, and he got in front of me in no time.  "What's the matter?  Getting scared that I might do something to you…little bitch?" I noticed his eyes wander downwards, straight down my shirt.  What's there to do?  As quick and as hard as I could, I brought my hand around and smacked him right across the face.  The mock "oooo's" of his friends made me sick to my stomach.  He just wiped his mouth, and glared right at me.  I was beginning to get scared.  Not because of him, but because if he tried anything I wouldn't have enough control to stop myself from killing him.  Luckily, somebody else showed up.

"Leave them alone." I heard a voice from behind me say.  I turned around, and both Jack and Jesse were standing their, their brow's furrowed.  Milfred chuckled and stood up.

"Or else what?" He said mockingly.  Jesse looked over to Jack, who looked back.  He then relaxed his arms, smiled and began walking towards us.

"Or else I just may have to hurt you." He said cockily.  As he walked past me, I whispered to him.

"Don't kill him."

"Yeah yeah."

I stood by Jesse and Sarah, Sarah being a little more worried about the fight.  Milfred cracked his knuckles, and wound up to punch Jack.  As he swung, I barely managed to see Jack grab his arm, duck under it, and elbow Milfred right in the stomach, all in a split second.  He wound back, choking, gasping for air, as his friends began to circle around him.  The commotion quieted down for a while, Milfred glaring at Jack through the arms of the other jocks.  He then yelled and charged straight at him.  Jack ducked out of the way, and Milfred fell right onto the ground next to me.  I took the opportunity to have a little fun of my own.

"My my my…how the mighty have fallen." I said as I placed my foot on his throat.  Another chill ran down my spine, you could say I have spider-sense.  As he grabbed my arm, I grabbed it back, and flung him over my shoulder.  I turned around to see Jack surrounded…almost.  Whenever they got within arms length of him, they were sent flying backwards.  Finally two scrawnier guys got in close enough to grab his arms and hold him tight.  But Jack wasn't worried, no, he actually looked pleased.  I saw that he gripped both guys right below their shoulders.  They stood for a minute, Jack not even struggling.  When smoke began to billow off of their shirts, I just froze for a while.  Finally they screamed in pain and let go of Jack, who took the opportunity to give them each a shot.  Someone grabbed my arm again, and I flipped him as well.  Same guy.  I looked over to Jesse, to see him barely holding his own with two of the jocks.  Usually, he doesn't fight, but these guys must have apparently went after Sarah, then he'll fight.  As the guy who tried to grab me rose again, I punched him without even looking, and was going to go help Jesse, but Milfred got there before I did.  He never saw it coming, and Jesse went flying.  As he lay on the ground stunned, Milfred and his goons just laughed, and began to move in for the kill.  That's when he showed up.

"Leave them alone." He hissed at Milfred.  He whipped around, and Drake was staring him straight in the face.  Everything stopped for a while, and Milfred smiled again.

"So, the freak's leader finally comes around.  I was wondering who was leading this little group of yours." He turned to his other flunkies, and nodded off, "See you round…freaks."  And they left, laughing to themselves all the way.

"Pretty limited vocabulary he has." Drake said.

"What can you expect?  All that muscle squishes his brain." I snapped into reality when I realized who I was talking to.  I quickly jumped away from him and stared nervously.  He didn't seem to mind, as he looked over all of us.  Jack, who was also staring at him nervously, Jesse, who was recovering from the punch, and Sarah, who was kneeling next to him.

"You okay Jesse?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, wiping some drool from his mouth, "He was holding back for some reason, it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would."  He stood up, and joined in the group stare.  Drake looked between all of us, and just started walking away.  We looked at each other, and followed him.

When we were outside, the first thing I noticed was that there was nobody there.  Not a car, not even mine, nothing was there except for the parking lot, the telephone poles, trees and such.  I looked around, it was NEVER, this desolate.  And there was supposed to be weightlifting for the track team, so that weirded me out.

"Something's wrong." I said.  I continued to look around, and noticed there was a figure in a black cloak in the middle of the parking lot.  Everyone else saw it as well, Jack being the only one to head out to him.

"Hey buddy!" He yelled, "Where is everybody?" The figure turned around, his face shrouded in the hood.  Jack stood for a minute, staring into his face.  Then he yelled out in a panic, "IT'S YOU!"

The figure screeched and lunged at Jack.  Jack, a lot quicker than before, dodged the punch, stumbled back, and ran back to us.  The figure threw off it's cloak.  There it was, that same bird-man creature.  This one however, was different from the two we fought a while ago.  Its feathers were a mix of light blue and brown.  As Jack got to us, I heard Drake shout out. "What the hell is that thing?!"

Before anyone could answer, the air began to fill with the hideous yells and screeches of multiple creatures.  Our heads bolted behind us to see that our side of the roof was covered by them.  There were at least over a dozen from what I could tell.  They all lept down to ground level, as we backed away from the school.  The other one stopped us from going any farther, and before we knew it, they surrounded us.  Everyone except Sarah got in a fighting stance, who took a position behind Jesse.

"What're we gonna do?" I heard her cry.

"What can we do?" Drake said, "We fight."

"Oh man, I can't do any of those nifty moves if there isn't any fire around." Jack whined.

"Sounds like a useless ability." Drake said.

"Shut up, both of you!" I yelled.  "Okay, we'll do this strategically, there's about fourteen of them, so we each take…." I heard a screech, then Sarah yelled.

"JESSE!"

One of the creatures had swept in and snatched him away, throwing him onto the ground, where several of them got on him like a pack of dogs to a cat.  I tried to stop Sarah, but she bolted out of our huddle, where one of them snatched her up, and sliced her face.  There was a muffled yell, as she fell to the ground, quivering.  At that time, strategy was over, as Jack and Drake charged out at the remaining creatures.  I cursed, and went charging to Jesse, who was now completely surrounded.  Two of them jumped in front of me, and I had to fend them off with a series of blows plus knocking them away with my shield.  When my vision was cleared, I was about to get Jesse, when Sarah screamed out in fear.  I whipped around and one of the creatures was actually trying to bite her face, while its claws dug into her side.  She was kicking and screaming, gripping its face and struggling so as not to let it get her.  I turned to Jack, who was tied up with three birds of his own.  Then to Drake, who actually seemed to be winning against five of the things.  I was ambushed again by two of the creatures, but before they could get any more shots in on me, I was able to blow them away with my shield again.  At this point, I only had two options, Jesse or Sarah.  I was so confused I swear I was going to cry.  But when she yelled, it happened again.

"HELP ME!"

"SARAH!" I heard Jesse's voice echo in the air.  All of a sudden, the four birds surrounding him were catapulted out of his area, as he began storming over to Sarah, a look of hatred in his eyes.  One of the birds tried attacking him, but he quickly snatched it by its neck and hurled it over at the other one.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" He yelled as they collided, sending them away from her.  I wanted to pass it off as adrenaline, but nobody throws a two-hundred pound bird twenty yards with one hand.

Things were beginning to settle down, and we were winning.  Jack had offed two of his attackers, and Drake was already on another batch of them.  When only three were left, I thought we were going to win.  Then things took a turn for the worse.  The ground began to shake violently, and everyone stopped, even the birds.  We stood, dumbfounded for a while, then the ground shook again.  I slowly straightened up, until a shadow began to loom over our heads.  I was afraid to look back, but I thought, that maybe, if I bend backwards, it might not come to much of a shock to me.  It didn't work.

The thing was big.  No, it was bigger than big.  It stood several hundred feet tall.  Its body, besides for looking really decayed, reminded me of dirt almost.  This dirt however, was quite solidified.  I did, however, notice several large chunks of it crumbling off his body.  That didn't keep me from screaming.

Everyone, except the birds, who had bolted before I even righted myself, froze in their tracks.  This wasn't an every day sight.  I turned around and backed to Drake and Jack.

"I think the words best described for this situation, was quoted by Monty Python…RUN AWAY!" Jack yelled.  We all turned and headed for the hills.  Most of us.  Sarah was still laying on the ground, badly hurt.  I tried yelling for her, but the droning of the monsters low, echoy roar, and its thundering-footsteps, blocked out my voice to all except one.

I don't know exactly how, or for that matter when.  But as the creature lifted its foot to crush Sarah, all I recall was a strong gust of wind rushing from behind me, and there was Drake kneeling next to Sarah and hoisting her onto his shoulders.  I saw him hesitate as the creatures foot was right at its peak, then he sprinted off towards us.  In an earth-shattering blow, the foot came down, and the pavement split apart.  Although far away enough to miss the foot, the force of the impact and the large pieces of concrete that shot from the ground, flung Drake forward.  He did a semi flip, but managed to land on his feet, as he skid about four feet in front of me.  It took him a while to maintain his balance, before joining us.  I was going to run, but I noticed that our delay caused us to come just within reach of the monsters reach.

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" I yelled.  I looked up at noticed the other foot was just hovering above us.  I bent down and was about to kiss my ass goodbye.  I heard the crunching sound of the foot hitting the pavement, as the ground shrunk beneath me and I swallowed a whole mouth-full of dirt.  Then everything was quiet.  First thought to enter my mind was, 'Am I dead?' But who wouldn't think that?  I peeked one of my eyes open, and noticed light.  Although three feet in the ground, we somehow weren't crushed underneath this monsters weight.  My eyes slowly scoured the ground, I noticed the epicenter where the ground sunk.  In the middle of that, were feet.  Jesse's.

My eyes slowly moved up his body, and I realized that he was actually holding up the foot of the monster, although barely.  His muscles looked like they were about to burst, and his teeth were going to break if he grit any harder.  What seemed to be his remaining ounce of strength at the time, he almost threw the monsters foot right back in its face.  It reeled backwards a step, and then it came crashing to the ground, dirt and dust covering the entire area.  I thought I was going to suffocate with all the crap that was in my lungs.  When it finally cleared, I noticed it wasn't dead yet, but more or less hurt, and kneeling on the bad leg, Jesse staring it right in the black-sooted face.  It looked back at him, and growled in a threatening tone.   Slowly, it raised its fist, and aimed it at Jesse.  Jesse got in a defensive stance and waited for it to come.  Both fists collided head on.  Jesse won.

Unbelievable as it was, the monsters arm shattered on impact, sending more shit into the air. 'If he survives this,' I thought to myself, 'I'm going to kill him.' More time went by as the dust began to clear away.  And when it did….

I've been surprised before, basically whenever something weird happened to us.  But this….  Jesse was huge, at least twenty feet tall.  His muscles, scrawny as they were before hand, were gigantic now.  He was like the Hulk, except white.  He walked over to the creature, who seemed to be in a lot more suffering than what Jesse dealt it.  When it noticed him, it tried to swipe him with the other arm, but he merely blocked it, causing it to break away at the elbow.  It was now using all its strength just to support itself.  With both hands, Jesse grabbed its head, and with one quick, forceful blow, shattered it.  Unfortunately for us, it's entire body exploded in a downfall of dust.  I must have been in it for ten minutes gasping for any sign of oxygen.  Enough of it cleared, where my upper half of my body could poke out from the fog.  I looked around for anyone else, but I only saw Jesse, normal size, also coughing for air.

"Hey Jesse!" I coughed, "What the hell man?!  I would rather it had squished us!"

He coughed several times, "Sorry!"

I coughed some more, and noticed Jack's head was the next to pop up.  He looked around, noticed Jesse, and stormed over there.  He placed both hands on his bare shoulders, looked him right in the eye, and said, "Don't ever let me get on your bad side!"

Jesse coughed some more, "Jack, you might want to stand away."

Before either of us could ask, we noticed Drake kneeling on the ground, cradling Sarah in his arms.  She was half crying, half whimpering, half gasping for air, and gripping onto Drake's pant leg.  He looked up at us, with those cold, piercing eyes.

"She's badly hurt," he said, "When it was thrown off of her, its claws caught in her side and made a clean cut across her abdomen."  He blew some of the dust away, and we saw that it had indeed, sliced straight across her shirt and stomach.  My heart sank into mine by the way, and with the way Jesse gasped, I think his stopped for a moment.  He took several steps backwards, one of his hands holding his stomach, the other one smacked across his forehead.

"Wh-what ha…have I done?" Tears began to swell in his eyes, "I-I'm sorry.  I'm sorry.  I'm sorry!"

Before he could break down crying, a sudden rush overcame all of us.  It wasn't adrenaline, or fear or anything like that.  It was like…we had just come in the presence of a powerful being.  We all turned our heads, and there was a man.  He wasn't all that tall, maybe just below six foot.  There was a thin white beard that ran from his sideburn to his chin.  He was an old man, in his late fifties, early sixties from what I could tell.  He wore a blue, silk robe, but half of it was covered by what could only be gold armor.  In his left hand, was an odd, golden staff.  He slowly walked over to Drake and Sarah, reached into his robe, and pulled out a small, marble white flask.  He bent down, held it to her lips, and said, "Here.  Drink this."

Sarah's hands weakly let go of Drake, and slowly grasped the flask.  She drank slowly as well, a little bit of it running down the side of her mouth.  When it was all gone, she slowly let go, and her hands came to a rest on her lap, and she passed out.  Right before our eyes, the gashes closed up, the scars on her face and hands healed, and the only thing remaining was the blood on her shirt and pants.  I looked back to Jesse when I heard him mumbling.

"She's..okay…she's going to be…okay…." A great smile drew upon his face, as he quickly hugged Jack tightly screaming, "SHE'S OKAY!  SHE'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT!"

Jack was yelling with him too…that is, until the dust cleared.  There those two were…Jesse butt naked.  His sudden growth tore his clothes to shreds, and Jack found this out the hard way.  He quickly let go and was on the ground retching.  I sighed, and shook my head ruefully.  The man  then was at my side,as he reached into his robe again.

"Here," he told Jesse, "Put this on." And with that he threw a large, dark green cloth over to Jesse, who barely caught it.  He stared at it for a while, a long while at that.  When he finally looked up, he noticed the man staring REAL nervously at his, eh-hem.  Jesse jumped, and quickly robed.  Now, with everything settled down, I looked straight over to this mystery man.

"Alright ya old geezer.  Who are you?"

"Do you address me in that fashion and expect a reply little girl?"

Already I didn't like this guy.  NOBODY calls me a little girl, "Pardon me." I said sarcastically, "By what do you call yourself sir?"

"By what you say, I do not call myself anything.  I am man, just like any of you are.  Of course, when you mean by what do I wish for you to call me, then you must mean my name?" He was getting a mix of glares, and nervous stares, "In that case…yes…yes, I do have a name."

"And…what would, that happen to be?" Jack asked reluctantly.  The man looked over at him, smacked his stick on the ground and stood upright.

"My name…is Urza."

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End Chapter 4


	5. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Black

Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Note: Pay close attention to the following sequences.  I'll try and send it in italics, but I can't guarantee anything.

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Colors: A prelude to Death-Black

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_It was April 13th, of the year 1987.  A prostitute had forgotten to take, "the pill," nine months before hand, and was too in debt to pay for an abortion.  She had already made plans, however, to give this newborn baby up for adoption.  43 painful hours she was in labor.  To her, being raped years ago never hurt as much physically as what she was going through.  But, when it was all over.  When she held that tiny creature in her arms, something inside of her weakened.  She held the baby close, and as it stopped crying, and tears began to run down her face, she cooed softly.  "My son…my son." She held the baby closer, being sure not to crush its tiny body, even though she could have.  "How could I ever think of letting go of you?" She pulled the baby away from her chest, and it looked her right in her eyes, "My son…I think…that I shall call you…Drake."_

Drake…what an awful name for a human.  I don't know why she called me that, but for the rest of my life, all I knew was that I hated that name…and yet, I loved it.

The old man was strong.  I could sense it.  Not in body mind you, but in mind and spirit.  If he wanted to, I'm sure he could have crushed us all in a single blow.  Sarah, the girl I was holding, passed out after drinking that stuff, so I set her down and concentrated on the old man.  He said his name was Urza.  Heh, somehow, that name sounded so familiar.  I made sure to keep my distance from him, just in case he tried anything.

"You are all probably wondering who I am, and what I'm doing here?" He looked around at all of us, "Well, besides for knowing my name, who I am, nor what I am, is none of your business.  However…." He tapped his staff on the ground, and we were in a forest.  It was the strangest sensation that rushed over us.  There we were, standing in the middle of the school's parking lot, then we were smack in the middle of a thick forest.  No, make that a jungle.  Everyone was thoroughly surprised, whipping there heads around to look at where we were.  The old man continued to talk even while we were in astonishment.

"As a rule, I do not mess with the business, and the dealings of Earth.  However…" His eyes did another complete scan of the group, "Things have gone awry."

Tayliana, the first one besides me to stop gaping in astonishment, shot a direct eyeline to him, "Awry?  What do you mean?"

The old man glared at her, then looked down and continued talking, "You see, the power of magic has only been limited to the world of…."

"Hold hold hold…hold on," Jack interrupted, "Magic?  What do you mean magic?"  
"I see this is going to take a lot of time to be able to make you understand.  Very well, you are young and inexperienced, so I shall tell you.  Magic is a powerful force of energy, where no being can experience all of its limitless power it holds.  As such, it is divided into five sources, each one having unique characteristics, and personalities of its own."  He looked at Jack, "Red, the magic of the heart." At Tayliana, "Blue, the magic of the mind." At Jesse, "Green, magic of the body." He looked down at Sarah, sleeping peacefully, "White, the magic of life." And his eyes did a piercing glare in my direction, as he slowly walked over to me, "And black, the magic of death."

_I lived with my mother for six years.  During those six years, even SHE could tell I was different from the other children.  I don't know, if it was the fact that my hair was pure pitch black that it made it look like gel, or it was my glossy black eyes that did it, but I was different, and everyone who met me knew that.  But she loved me just the same, even if she couldn't afford the luxuries that other families could, she would always try to make up for it.  She still, however, sold her body for money, and that disgusted me to where I would throw up when she left.  Then one night, she never came home.  I waited for three days, sitting on the couch by the front door of our run down trailer, but she never came back._

"You mean…? HE has these weird powers too?!" Jesse yelled out.  I smirked.

"Since I was born."

"Black…death.  I always DID think you were a little creepy." Tayliana said.  I just ignored her.

The old man continued to talk, "May I continue?" We all shot him another look, "As I was saying, the five of you, have been bestowed with an awesome power.  A power that can become so great that entire nations have crumbled before the fury of one man.  However, to your world, that power has been forbidden from the beginning."

No one said a word, until Jack spoke up, "Forbidden?"

"Yes, forbidden.  Although quite possible for someone to even acquire a fraction of these powers, what you call witches, the power of magic was only limited in great amounts to my world, the world you are in right now.  Dominaria."

"Dominaria?" Tayliana asked, "You mean we're not on Earth?"

"I am a Planeswalker, as such, I am able to go between my world, and any other worlds as I see fit.  However, I do not go to destroy worlds, but to merely teach them.  Although there are many worlds out there, they are not all bound by the same law that has been put upon your world, and why that is, is unknown to me.  Planeswalkers are even forbidden from entering your world.  Despite this fact, I came to your world upon hearing that the power of magic has been unleashed onto your world, and in a great amount for so few of you to experience so much of it." Another group stare, "I am here, to teach you of your newfound abilities, so that when you return, you do not abuse them for your own purposes, for I fear that this is only to beginning of your problems."

Jack raised his hand, "Question.  What if we think your story is a crock of shit?"

The old man glared at him, placed the end of his staff on the ground, and aimed the front of it at Jack, "Don't push your luck with me boy."  All of a sudden, Jack's feet lifted off the ground, and he was hovering in mid-air, as the old man walked straight towards him, "For here, I am the teacher, and you are the mere student.  And frankly, I don't give a damn what your study habits, or attitude was like back on Earth, because in my class…." Jack's feet were pulled out from under him, so he came face-to-face with the old man, "…a detention could mean your sanity, and a failing grade could mean your life." With that, Jack was launched backwards by an awesome force, and he collided head-on with a tree.  He hit it so hard, that he literally shattered the entire trunk, and the tree fell forward, missing Urza by inches.  I was ready to fight, as Tayliana and Jesse rushed over to Jack's aid.

"You see boy?!  What you just witnessed, is a beginners lesson I give to all of my students!  If you can't master your powers, and be able to resist a simple telekinesis spell, you have no chance of surviving even the first quiz!"

_It was about a week after my mother disappeared.  I had hoped in the back of my mind that she would come back, but I knew she wasn't.  Then one day, I had a visitor.  He never gave me his name, but I knew that he was someone important, somebody important, and dangerous.  He said that if I wanted to see my mother, I would have to come with him.  Hope clouded my judgment, although even if I did refuse, he would have taken me by force.  For four years I waited for my mother.  I earned my keep by being a little servant to the fat bastard for those years.  Never getting an ounce of respect, not even from the other servants.  Sure, there was the exception of the elderly cook, whom had been working for him since the dawn of man.  I waited and waited for my mother, still struggling onto that last remaining hope.  But that hope was fading, and there was only one thing, for the last few months of my stay there, that kept me from running away.  I wanted to kill that man._

As Jesse and Tayliana hoisted Jack up to his feet, the old man glanced in my direction, then proceeded to walk over to me.  Then stopped, his face about a foot away from mine.  I knew I could take him, at least, that's what I wanted to believe.

"Come on." He said all too coolly, "I would like to see how you fair."

I couldn't believe what he said, and that angered me.  I focused my mind and concentrated on using my power to increase my strength, and I swung at him.  It missed, no, he dodged it.  I continued to swing wildly, for any chance that one of the punches might hit him.  Nothing wanted to land though, until finally I lost my balance and fell over.  As I struggled to get up, I felt a powerful force wrap around my body, and began to squeeze.  It was like an invisible hand was crushing me to death, I couldn't even scream.  It finally lifted me up in the air, and threw me on the ground just like it did with Jack.  Luckily, I didn't hit a tree on my way down.  I painfully moved my head to look at him, who was looking down at me.

"Hmm…you DO have great potential.  You all do." He walked in between the middle of us, "Unfortunately, inexperience, lack of judgment, and uncontrollable emotions prevent you from going any further." I slowly got up, my eyes fixated on where he was, as was Tayliana's and Jesse's.  The old man ignored us, and motioned his head to Sarah, "Come, your friend awakes."

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, Sarah's eyes opened, as she looked up into the sky.  Jesse immediately let go of Jack, who, with Tayliana, almost fell to the ground.  He was quickly by her side, as he helped her sit up and she looked around dazily.

"Wha-?  Who?  Huh?" She said wearily.  The old man walked off into the woods, calling out.

"Get some rest tonight!  Because tomorrow…class starts!"

_I remember it all as if it was yesterday.  I was finishing sweeping the shag carpet of the hallway outside the main chamber, when I heard him and his goons discussing.  "So who's the kid?" One of them said.  "That brat?  He was the kid of that one chick." He answered.  "What chick?  You hire so many of them that it's kind of hard to keep track of them." "She was the one who…had a change of heart." There was silence for awhile, until the entire room burst out in laughter.  "OH!  THAT girl!" "Heh, what'd you do with that little whore anyways?" "Well, let's just leave it that she no longer has any TIME to be with her son, or do anything else for that matter!" The entire room burst out with laughter again, but in my ears, it quickly faded away.  I couldn't, no, didn't want to believe what I just heard.  My mother was dead.  My mother was killed.  My mother was murdered!  And me, the foolish youth that I was, employed under the services of the same man who had killed her, and had deceived me for four years into believing that my mother was still alive.  I hated him.  I wasn't angry, I wasn't sad nor was I in grief.  All I knew, was that I hated this man with the purest of hatred, and he had to pay for what he has done to me.  I remember slamming the door open, although no sound came, as I kept hearing that voice in my head, telling me to kill him.  I saw him and his goons jump, and point their guns at me, their mouths were moving, but I heard nothing.  When finally my ears started working, the last words I heard him say were, "…and now you will die just like your whore of a mother." The gun fired, and I remember the bullet slowly making its way to me.  Then I blacked out._

Might had fallen upon our little area of woods that me and the others were trapped in.  Few words had been said.  Sarah asked what happened and what was going on, and we told her.  Jack had tried to lighten the mood once, Tayliana told him to shut up, and that was it.  Sarah had managed to build a small fire to keep us warm for the night.  It didn't help much though, since the fire wasn't that big.

"Jack, could you make the fire a little bigger?" I heard Tayliana said, she was wrapped up in several layers of blankets that the old man discarded right before he left.  Jack ooked over to her and nodded.

"I-I'll try." He must have still been sore from being flung against the tree.  He held up his hand to the fire, and began to concentrate right in the middle of it.  We sat there for what seemed like the longest time, until finally, the fire erupted, and spread further out to us, barely missing us.  Everyone except me gasped in surprise, and relief as they huddled in closer to the fire, and began to talk.

"So what are we going to do about tomorrow?" Jesse asked.

"God, I don't even want to think about it!" Tayliana exclaimed.  I never did liked conversations, and I wasn't all that cold to begin with, so I left and sat behind a nearby tree.  I could still hear them talking, but barely.

"What's his problem?"

"He's probably one of those anti-people persons."

"So is anyone else wondering what the hell we're going to be doing tomorrow?"

"Nope.  I wondering how the hell we're going to survive it.  You saw what the 'beginners lesson' was?"

"He's probably just pulling our legs."

"Well he'd better let go of mine if he knows what's good for him."

"I think I'm going to go to sleep guys."

"Okay then."

"Goodnight."

They continued on talking, and I listened, hoping their boring conversation would help me fall asleep.  I was just about to, when I noticed a figure standing over me.  It was Sarah, I noticed she was still wearing her destroyed outfit, and over her shoulders was another blanket.  She smiled at me.

"Um, hi." I just ignored her, I was tired, and wanted to fall asleep. "Um, I-I just want to say thank you…for saving me." I looked up at her, and noticed she was still smiling. 'One of those kind of persons,' I thought.

"It was nothing." I said, trying to get her away.

I heard her giggle, "Hey, if you ever want to come and talk with us, it is alright if you do so.  We may be an odd bunch, and Jack and Tay may say some harsh things at times, but we're all really good people.  If you'd like, you can be our friend too." I grunted.  "Well, goodnight Drake.  Sweet dreams." And she left.

_When I awoke, it was a bloodbath.  No one was alive, except me.  I looked around, everyone looked as if they were mauled by a terrible creature.  Ripped-off limbs strewn the floor, deep gashes were made in skin.  I even noticed a bullet hole in one of their heads, probably trying to avoid the same torture as his fellows had.  There was only one man who wasn't ripped limb from limb.  It was the boss, the man I hated more than anything.  Instead of being destroyed, like the others, he looked like a mummified corpse.  The very life was sucked out of him, and his bones had become soft, and brittle.  He crumbled after several minutes, and I couldn't help but cry.  It was just a swelling of tears first, then an all-out bawling.  I didn't know what happened.  I didn't want to KNOW what happened.  But whatever it was, I was most likely the cause of it.  The servants heard my cries, and rushed up into the room.  Most of them gasped, and fainted upon sight of it, some looked at me fearfully, while the others looked, actually relieved.  The cook was the only one to approach me however, as she took me in her arms, and quickly carried me off, away from that cursed place.  There, we traveled, from house to house, until finally we ended up in __Franklin__Memorial__High School__, and that's where I met Jesse and the others._

'Friends huh?' I thought to myself, 'Don't think I've ever had friends before.'

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End Chapter 5


	6. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Training

Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast

Note: I would like to get one thing straightened out with everyone.  If this sounds rude or obnoxious, I am deeply sorry.  But my stories have, VERY little to do with the actual Magic storyline.  There will be certain appearances from characters (SPOILER: Volrath, Bo, and Chainer), but as far as the stories from the M:TG novels go, there is little resemblance.  Hell, a lot of things I'm just making up off the spot, and I'll be doing that a lot throughout the entire story. I really am sorry if that doesn't appeal to you, but this is my interpretation of how it might happen, in real life, to Earth.  The introduction of mana, the…never mind, I won't spoil it for those of you still interested in the story.  So don't count on anything to even resemble the M:TG, all my information is based off of the cards, and the quotes off of the cards.  Now, I would like to make some responses to my reviews, if that is alright.

MUSTEX 

1. I know red mages aren't telepathic, and I don't know where you concluded that from, but if it's coming from the voice, that is…to be explained later. ^-^ Much later. ^-^;;;;

2. Not even your own?  Woo, my bad.  Thanks though, I'll be sure to remember that in future chapters.

3. That is to be explained later. ^-^

As for your cons, I haven't actually read the M:TG storyline, so I'm kind of in the dark with the whole Planeswalker thing.  I just know that they're terribly powerful.  But thanks once again for the info, it was really appreciated.  But I think I'll keep him old, for dramatic purposes.  Now with that said and out of the way, let us continue, shall we?

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Colors: A Prelude to Death-Training

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The sun had just peeked over the treetops in the harsh forestlands of Dominaria.  A sign to the people for them to wake up and start a day anew.  But there are some of those who like to wake up before the sunrise, there are those who NEED to wake up before the sunrise, and then there are some who really don't have a say in the matter.

The five young apprentices, Jack, Jesse, Tayliana, Sarah, and Drake, were all lined up in a row, respectively.  Jack is still asleep, Tayliana keeps nodding off, Sarah yawns widely, and Drake is the only one to be fully awake.

 "The first lesson!" Urza exclaims to his pupils, "Will be similar to something you have seen…or felt before.  By using your mana to increase your…."

 "Mana?" Jesse asked.  Urza sighed ruefully.

 "Mana, the energy of life.  The source from which your powers are born, fed, grow, and depleted.  Now, may I continue?" And he shot Jesse a look, who stepped back, "By utilizing your mana, you will be able to increase your toughness, and also will be able to make you immune to certain spells." He stops, looking at Jack, whose head keeps bobbing up and down.  Urza snaps to attention, pointing his stick at Jack, who is sent back flying, yelling all the way.

 "Jack!" Tay yelled, turning to look at him.

 "Don't turn your back on your opponent!"  And Urza snapped his stick at Tay, who is also sent backwards.  By this time, everyone is wide awake.  Urza relaxes and begins pacing again.  "This will also be a test, of your intuition.  Clear your mind, concentrate on sensing my power.  Your opponents are eyes are only to deceive you, his mana will always tell the truth however.  It is not as hard as it sounds, you just need to concentrate." He stopped, looking between the three remaining people standing.  Sarah was visibly nervous, Jesse was a little tense, but Drake was the only one not looking too worried about it.  Urza smiled, and continued to pace, "You must also learn when your opponent will attack.  He could attack now!  Or maybe now.  Or perhaps…even NOW!" He yelled, pointing his stick and no one in particular, which everyone jumps at, but everyone is still on the ground.  "No, you must always sense your opponent because he will attack…." And he aims his stick at Drake, and his feet are lifted off the ground, and joins Tay and Jack, "…when you least, expect it." Sarah was about to go for him, but wisely decided against it, and began to focus on Urza, her eyes squinting.  "One more thing…" Urza continued, his eyes focused on Jesse, "One must also know the extent of his powers.  One must know his limits, and his strengths." The whole time, Urza continues to keep his eyes fixated on Jesse, "There is a difference between courage, and foolishness.  To act without thinking of the consequences, could result in your own harm, or the harm to those who you truly love." Sarah, a bit confused, looked up at Jesse.  He was sweating profusely, his hands were clenched, and his mouth was at an uneasy frown, "Think before you do anything.  Because if you don't, your recklessness will become the END OF YOU!" And he once again pointed his stick at them, and Jesse crossed his arms in front of him.  But there was nothing happening to him.  Instead, he looked to his left, and saw Sarah in a similar position that he was in, except that she looked like she was in more pain, and was about to collapse.  Her hair was flying wildly, her body grew more and more weaker, yet at the same time stronger.  She had been able to see Urza's mana, and it was directed right at her.  She struggled to keep her balance, until Urza smiled, and lowered his staff.  There was a slight *pop*, as Sarah gasped at fell to the ground, her arms supporting her, and breathing heavily.  "Very good," Urza commented, "Very good in deed."  That's when he heard the loud moaning and groaning of the other students.  He looked up and noticed that all three of them were in a mess of tangles.  "Get up!  All of you!  We're not done yet!" This time, the moans were more of protest than of pain.  All the while, Jesse was staring down at Sarah, still breathing profusely, and sweating a lot.  Urza, with a slight smirk on his face, was watching the two.  He gripped the staff with both hands and said, "Concentrate." And pointed it at Jesse.

Several hours passed, and their first lesson was done.  Luckily, or unluckily, all of them survived.  Everyone stood patiently waiting for their next lesson.  Urza walks up to them, and taps his staff on the ground.  All of a sudden, a small, three-foot tall bird with a small body and large head and beak came trotting out of the woods.  "This will be your next assignment." The bird squawked, and everyone looked down at it strangely.

 "What is it?" Tay asked, bending down to get a better look at it.

 "It's a moa.  A small, but very quick and agile bird.  It is mostly used for food, however, I find it quite useful in this next task." Tay looked up at him, as he began to explain.

 "As you are now, most of your offensive and defensive skills, will come from your own body, and enchantments.  This exercise will enable you to use your mana to quicken your speed, and will also increase your agility.  The concept is simple enough, catch the moa.  You got no time limit, and there are boundaries to make it easier for you, but there are also some rules." He taps the moa on the behind with the staff, and it goes squawking off into the thick underlay.  "The rules are as followed.  Do not kill the moa, nor do not let it die.  If you do, the next task will be much, much harder for you.  There are also some boundaries."  He points his staff out past the woods, and walks out.  Everyone follows him.  Urza steps out from the thicket, and into a open area.  When everyone steps out behind them, they freeze in their tracks.  They are on a cliff, overlooking a vast forest down below them.  The sun hangs high in the sky, as what's remaining of the morning dew glistens on the treetops.  Sarah walks out to the edge of the cliff, her eyes also glistening with the sun.

 "It's beautiful." She whispers under her breath.  Although everyone is looking at her, no one says a word.  Her spectacular innocence, and beauty silences them.  Something comes to Urza, as he reaches inside his robe and pulls out a white, folded cloth.

 "Here," he says, handing it to Sarah, "Your clothes are a little ragged, you might want to change." Sarah looks down at her shirt confused, then realizes that it is a mess.  She rushes behind some trees and begins to change, Urz continues the rules.  "Do you see the forest?" Everyone nods.  "Look out into the distance, about three miles.  You will notice where the land begins to die, and jagged rocks start the form the surface of the planet.  That is Rath.  A desolate wasteland of sulfur, evil, and monsters too powerful for you to imagine.  That is the boundary.  Wander past there, and you will surely perish a most horrid fate." Everyone, even Drake, gulped.  When the bushes behind them started to rustle, they turned around, and Sarah emerged.  She was wearing a pure white, silk robe.  Unlike Jesse's robe, which just hanged over his body, hers seemed to adjust to her figure.  As she walked, the bottom of her dress easily moved with her leg, so no restraint was put upon her.  Her gold hair was let loose, and everyone swore they were looking at an angel.

 "Wow…." Was the response from all the men, except Urza.  Instead, she shot a quick glare at Jack.

She looked at them nervously, "What's wrong?" She asked.  At once the guys jumped, Jack acting a little wild, spurting out crazy things, Drake just turning his back on her, and Jesse looking at the ground, scratching the back of his head, and mumbling nervously.  Urza tapped his staff on the ground in disgust. 

"Are you all through here?"

 "Yes!" They yelled nervously.

 "Good.  Now the quicker you find it, the longer the break you have before your next lesson…BEGIN!" At that, they all sprinted off into the woods.

 "What the hell is this?" Jack says sourly, while peeking into a bush.  "How the hell are we even supposed to find one bird in the middle of the forest?  Huh?" He looked up, and there was the moa, digging its beak into the ground, searching for grubs.  Jack smiled to himself, he was going to catch this bird all by himself.  He stepped slowly up to it, making sure not to make any noise.  He was close, and the bird hadn't noticed him.  Now he was within jumping range, "Just a little closer." He thought to himself.  "Aaaaaand…GOTCHA!" And he pounced on the bird, grabbing it around the neck.  It screeched, and hollered and began to kick wildly, flapping its wings everywhere.

 "HA!  Finally caught you, you little *THUMP!* ooo…." The bird had managed to connect a kick with Jack's stomach, he tried desperately not to let go, but this time the bird managed to flip around and kick him in the face several times.  Jack dropped the bird, grabbed his face in pain, and tried to leap on the bird before it could get back up.  Didn't work, he missed it by inches, and his face went plowing into the mud..  He pulled it out of the mud, yelling, "GET BACK HERE!"

 "Four hours…." Tay said angrily, "Four, flippin hours have we been out here searching for this damn thing!" She kicked a log and it shattered into tiny pieces.

 "Oh, please calm down." Sarah pleaded, who was sitting in a tree looking around.  "Think of this as…as a treasure hunt!" With that she leapt down to the ground, smiling at Tay.  She didn't smile back.

 "Sure, and while I'm at it, let me sprout wings and marry Jack." She said in a rude, sarcastic tone.  Sarah didn't mind though, she laughed and skipped off into the woods to look more, Tay reluctantly following.  On a nearby hill, concealed in the fallen branches of trees, Jesse was spying on them.

 "Well, at least she's alright." He said aloud, a stick snapped, and he whipped around.  Drake was standing over him, glaring.

 "What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

Jesse scoffed, and continued to look through the bushes, "I don't care about this damn bird, I just want Sarah to be safe, that's all."

 "So you don't care if we get stuck out here in the woods for days on end?" Jesse didn't answer.  Drake smiled evilly and laughed to himself, "Sounds like you should be the black mage, not me." That got Jesse's attention.  He didn't like to be thought of as a nuisance, selfish, or a bad person.  He glared at Drake, then finally rested on his knees and sighed.

 "Alright, I'll start looking.  Besides, Tay's with her anyway, so…."

 "I FOUND IT!" Sarah's voice suddenly squealed.  The moa bursts out of the thicket, completely catching the two guys off-guard.  The moa's foot lands right on Jesse's face, and with incredible power, shoves the back of his head into the ground, and continues running.  Drake can only watch amusingly.  Sarah bursts out of the bushes, with an exhausted Tay right behind her, she looks up at Drake.

 "*pant…pant* Did you see which way it went Drake? *pant*" He nodded, then looked down at Jesse, Sarah followed suit, "Jesse?"

 "Ow…."

The moa was running for its life, Sarah and the others had just caught up with it, and were closing in.

 "We…almost got it…." Tay said, obviously very tired.  Except for Sarah, who was giggling the whole time, no one else was having that good of a time either.  They continued running, the moa pulling away, the group gaining on it, it was an on/off situation.  When they passed Jack, Sarah was the only one to call out to him.

 "Come on Jack!" He watched them nervously as they disappeared through the thicket, and he followed suit.  By the time Jack had caught up, Sarah was beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion and Drake pulled out in the lead.  He began running a lot faster than the others, and was a mere foot away from the moa.  He just reached out to grab it, when an orange blur darted in front of him, and the moa had disappeared.  He stumbled to regain his balance, and ended up face first in the mud as well.  Sarah stopped dead in her tracks, watching the thing begin swinging from the trees.

 "Hey!  That's ours, give it back!" Everyone else caught up with her, and thought they were going to have a rest, then Sarah motioned with her hand, "Come on." And ran off.  Drake glared at the others, Jesse tried desperately to keep up with Sarah, Jack wasn't far behind, Tay had been the only one to stop.

 "I may have to kill your friend if she continues to do this." He tells her.

Tay gasps for air a few times, "You'll…have to beat me…to it…."

Sarah had finally stopped running, and was in a small clearing now.  There was an opening in the canopy big enough to let a small circle of light through.  There were a couple fallen logs, and a lot of tall grass.  Sarah was standing just inside the light, staring into the trees.

 "Sarah…." Jesse yelled, finally catching up to him.  He rested his hand on the trees, and panted heavily.  What's…the matter?" He panted a couple more times, and Sarah pointed into the trees.  Jesse stopped panting when he looked up, and saw what she was pointing at.  At that time, the others had caught up, and had also seen what she was pointing to.

In the shadows, one could visibly see several large creatures watching them.  There were some in the trees as well.  They got a real good look at them when they stepped out of the shadows however.  They were apes.  Large apes.  Their fur was a mixture of orange and brown, and they wore what appeared to be really hard, leather armor on their bodies.  One of them, held the dead moa in its hand, its body limp like a wet rag.  They did not seem to be very pleased that these intruders that have wandered onto their territory.

 "Um, I think we should let them have the bird now." Jesse said nervously, backing up.

 "Y-Yeah…that's, a good idea." Tay said.  The apes took a step towards them, and they fled.

 "I…think…that…he's…trying…to kill…us!" Jack yelled as he heard the snapping of large limbs behind him.  They were catching up with them, and fast.  They continued to run, all the while the branches above them were snapping and falling on their heads.  Tay tripped over a log, stopping everyone, and the apes landed in front of them.  No sooner did their feet hit the ground, then one of them launched itself at the group.  Jack felt the wrath of its hand, as he was smacked backwards, falling onto the ground.  He lay there, looking up at the sky for a moment, then he smiled.  He wheeled back on his hands and pushed himself onto his feet.  The two groups had split up now, and were in a deadly brawl.  One of the apes landed in front of Jack and swung.  Jack dodged, and kneed the ape in the stomach.  The ape reeled back, stopped and roared at Jack.  It tried charging him again, but it was killed as a strange force hit it in the side.  Jack looked over at Tay was smiling.

 "Ha!  You're not the only one who has learned new tricks." She said cockily.  A sharp pain hit her in the side though, and she fell down.  At that time, another ape had leaped into the air after Tay, who was still reeling from the unknown pain.  Jack wasn't about to let her die, as he placed his hands on the ground.  The Earth underneath the ape then shot up in a sharp, pillar like form.  It pierced the ape right through its body before the rest of the dirt swallowed it up whole.  Jack looked at it with wide, nervous eyes.

 "Wow." He said to himself, smiling nervously.

Elsewhere, Sarah was too busy defending herself, to realize how much more agile she had become.  She was doing standing flips over the apes, somersaults, tumbling.  She had not realized any of it.  It felt…natural to her.   She didn't notice the other ape, however, and one punch quickly threw her off balance.  She stumbled for a while, until she landed on her butt.  She rubbed her head, and noticed that one of the apes and did a flying leap for her.  It was quickly intercepted by Drake, who, like the wind, moved to her location and with enormous strength, punched the ape out of its path.  Sarah looked up at him, and he looked back.  He did not seem to be happy, he scoffed at her, and proceeded to go off on the other creatures.  Sarah watched him the whole way.

Drake had charged into a group of three apes, who were attacking at random.  He grabbed one of the creatures by the fur and proceeded to beat in its chest.  Another ape stopped him from killing its comrade, but Drake whipped around and connected a punch with that ape's face.  He turned around yet again, and with one final blow, punched the ape so hard in the chest that it collapsed, providing it a slow death.  One of the apes then grabbed Drake by the arms, and pulled tightly, very tightly.  The other ape, its face bloody from the last punch, staggered for a little while, as the other one tried to rip Drake's arms off.  When it regained its senses, it roared its war voice, and charged at him.

Sarah, who had been watching this, tried to intervene.  She held up her hands, palms wide open.  She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to concentrate on her mana, to see if there was anything she could do to stop it.  But the ape wasn't giving up, it made a direct B-line for Drake, and was sure to pummel him.  It was right in the middle of its windup, when it stopped.  It just stood there, frozen almost.  It then dropped its arm, looked at Drake in a calm manner, then trotted off into the forest.  Drake was too busy resisting the force of the ape to really care, so he smacked his head off of the creature's face, and that let him go.  The creature backpedaled, then did another charge at Drake.  But he whipped around, holding out his hand in front of the creature's face, and it stopped dead in its tracks.

Fear held the creature in its tracks.  It looked into Drake's eyes, his pure black, evil eyes.  The ape grew more and more fearsome.  It was trembling now, and began to back away.  But Drake was following it every step.  It was getting more scared, those eyes.  Those eyes were driving it mad.  It wanted to get away, but it couldn't look away.  Those eyes were piercing a hole right through its mind, its heart was a mad panic.  Then it stopped, and fell over backwards…dead.

Jesse bent down on the ground as an ape went right for him, and with one arm flipped the ape over his head.  Another one made a direct punch to his chest.  He reeled back, but wasn't all that hurt.  This time, it was HIM who did the charging, ramming his shoulder into the ape's body.  It collided with a tree, and died on impact.  Jesse turned around and grabbed the palm of another ape, and twisted its arm, it snapped like a twig, which gave him enough room to kick it in the stomach and send it flying.

There were few apes left, but as with the strange birds, another force stopped both parties dead in their tracks.  Urza had come onto the scene, overlaying the battle ground.  The apes recognized his power, and quickly fled, leaving their dead and injured behind.  Urza stepped right for the middle of his students, who huddled around him.  Some of them tried to say something, but nothing came out.  Urza looked down on the ground, and noticed the dead moa laying on the ground.

 "I see, that you have failed the assignment." He said in a passive-aggressive tone.

Some of them tried to reply, Jack and Tay were the only ones to say something, "NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!"

Urza pointed his staff towards them, "Yes?" The two gulped, and back down.  Sarah looked over the bloody battleground, just the sight of the dead apes made her sick.  But she noticed that one of them, the one Jesse broke its arm, was still alive, and lying onto a tree.  It was making a very low, very painful noise.  Sarah couldn't help but feel sorry for it, and began to walk towards it.  Urza, discussing the value of timing, didn't notice her.  She slowly walked up to the ape, its good arm grasping the bad one.  When it saw Sarah, it snapped at her with its teeth and she jumped back.  But she still continued forward.  It tried to move, unknown to Sarah to get away or to fight, but she quickly put her hands on its chest and leaned it back against the tree.

 "Shhh…shhh…I-I'm not going to hurt you." It growled, not believing her.  She remembered what she had done before, she concentrated on healing the creature.  It no time, a small ball of light formed in her hand, and she administered it into the ape's chest.  The ape's body grew a bright glow, until it diminished, and it was alright.  By this time, the rest of the group had broken their argument with Urza, and were watching Sarah.  The ape slowly moved its body, not realizing it was fine.  When it did, it shoved Sarah out of the way, and with its arms glided across the treetops, joining its brethren.  Sarah watched it go off, stood up and brushed her self off.  She noticed everyone watching her.  "Yes?"

 "Compassionate…caring…just like most white mages are." Urza said curiously, "Just don't let your mercy get the best of you.  There are some creatures in this world who don't deserve compassion, and some who won't show it back to you." He clapped his hands, "Simian grunts may be violent, but they will respect a good deed.  They may even prove to be a valuable asset in the future.  Now then." A tiny figure shot from out of the tree behind Urza.  It was no larger than six inches, with tiny wings that were faster than a hummingbird, and the body was a very small, but very beautiful girl.  She glided next to Urza as he spoke again, "This is an Uktabi Fairy.  You must find her, and catch her, with no harm to her…at all." Everyone groaned.  "Ready…begin!" Before anyone could take a step, she was off like light.  Everyone except Urza had froze in their tracks.  This was going to be a long lesson.

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End Chapter 6


	7. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Secrets

Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast.

Note: This chapter deals with new aspects I'm putting into mana, and its powers.  Just a warning.

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Colors: A Prelude to Death-Feelings

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Two perilous weeks have passed since these young apprentices have begun their journey on a strange course where they have no knowledge about.  Urza had guided them on their first step of their course, learning the basics of mana, and how it can aid you in battle.  After teaching them how using their mana can increase their speed and strength by a very limited quantity, he them taught them several types of spells one can learn.  There were quick spells, the most commonly used types, where one merely yells out the name of the spell, and it will be cast.  They can be cast without the use of words, however, it's power and potential are reduced.  Sorceries, in which one can't merely call out a name, but they need a greater deal of time to be able to conjure up the power of the spell.  There is no difference between these two types of spells, they both harbor powerful spells, and can expend a great deal of mana as well.  Summons, where one calls upon the power of beasts to aid them.  Although a common use, summonings require an even greater deal of concentration and mana, especially if the creature is unknown to their world.  Artifacts, however, were the odd one out.  One cannot summon an artifact out of nowhere, they must either be found, and taken, or the even harder way, is to understand the mechanics of the artifact, and then it can be summoned.  This, however, does not work for all artifacts.  Urza also noted, that higher ranking mages were able to use their mana to create a weapon best suited to their needs.  In theory, it requires little use of ones mana, but in reality, only mages that have spent hundred of years practicing their mana, are able to "materialize" weapons.

Urza then proceeded to show them the limits of spells, and mana.  Mana is the body's energy, or magik.  Although limited, even novices, like them, have such energy in great amount.  But reckless use of spells, will deplete their mana reserve, or their energy.  Long, drawn out battles with other mages, may also cause the depletion of mana.  Potency drops, and the mage becomes exhausted to the point of fainting.  Destruction can only follow.  He even went over Tayliana, and a blue mage's ability to, "counter." When all that was complete, Urza took it up one more notch…studying.

 "I don't believe this…." Jack muttered under his breath.  "Here, I thought, at least I don't have to do any homework, I don't have to go to school.  But this…!" He slammed a gigantic book on the ground, the pages not budging an inch.  Nobody was holding any of their books up, they may have been resting on something, but nobody was able to hold their book up.  Jack had barely got anywhere, considering the width of the book.  Both Jesse and Sarah were about a less than a quarter of the way through.  Tayliana was speeding right through the book, a lot further along then the others.  Drake hadn't even bothered to open his book.  Jack rested on his elbows, and glared over at Tay, who was resting against a tree with hers in her lap.  "Do you understand ANY of this?!"

Tay, her eyes never leaving her book, nodded.

Jack scoffed, made some indistinguishable sounds for a reply, then said, "How?  I mean…all it's talking about is the…" He looks at his book, "The, magnitude, of, the amount, of, mana, put, into, now what the hell is that?!"

 "It's very simple you dip." She said, her eyes darting across her page, "It's describing how most spells, are capable of increasing their power beyond their original capacity, with only putting more of your mana behind…."

 "And I'm sick of this 'mana' shit!  I mean, what the fuck is mana?!  And if it's supposedly a body's energy, how come nobody from Earth could do any of this shit we're doing now?!"

Sarah, whose book is leaning against a tree, and is slowly kicking her legs while reading it, comes in, "Maybe it has something more to do than actual energy." Silence fell upon the group once again, Tay then stood up, and carried her book over to Sarah.

 "Look at this." She said, everyone except Drake got up and gathered around.  "It's called Time Walk." And she began to read, "'It is considered one of the most powerful spells in a Blue Mage's arsenal.  By utilizing just a small amount of mana, a blue mage is able to stop time completely within a designated area, with exception to that of the mage.  Although unable to cast any spells, they may take their time to heal any wounds that they have received, recover their mana supply, or to sneak behind an enemy for a surprise attack.  The user controls the time spent in this perpetual 'time freeze.' This should not, however, be used by anyone without a great deal of experience in magic." Tay looked curiously, and continued to read.

"Wow, pretty interesting actually," Jesse said. 

"Baloney," Jack scoffed.  "There is no way that anyone could stop time." 

Tay, however, wasn't paying attention.  She picked up her book again, and began walking back to her tree, reading all the way.  Instead of sitting back down, however, she set the book down and began walking backwards.  She stopped, still looking at the book, and everyone watching her.  She then closed her eyes, and began to become entwined in meditation.  She stood there for a while, with just her eyes closed.  They were about to continue reading, when a sharp chill shot straight up their backs.  They quickly turned to Tay, whose arms were raised in the air.  Her voice slowly escaped her lips.

 "Tiiiiiiiiiime…." She held the last word for several seconds, she was really concentrating.  As she began to yell out the last word, and was about to throw her arms down, Urza appeared from behind them.

 "Stop!" He yelled, although rather calmly.  Tay finished mid-stance, her arms frozen around her waist.  He walked up to her, and proceeded to talk, "Do not attempt, the impossible." He looked at Jack, "You are right, there IS, no way for anyone to stop time.  And if there is, they cannot hold it for very long.  Time freezing wears on the mind, not the body.  Although your mana may not be affected, your brain would collapse at the stress."

 "And how would you know this?" Drake asked sourly.  Urza looked at him, and noticed the book lying by his feet.

 "Why haven't you started reading?"

Drake sneered, the looked away.  Jack was the one to answered.

 "We can't just sit here, reading about this!  If we want to actually learn what this is about, we gotta get out there and DO it!"

 "He's right." Drake answered, "Although I hate to admit it.  If you REALLY want to teach us, you have to show us how it's done."

Urza looked around, "Does everyone agree with that?" they nodded.  Urza smiled, "Very well then, but in my old age, I may not have acquired to learn some of the spells in there, so you'll have to tell me which ones you would like to see."

Jack immediately took advantage of this, "Oo!  Oo!  Oo!  How about this spell?  O-blit-er-ation?  That sounds like it could do…."

 "Sorry, never heard of it," Urza said, still smiling, Jack looked depressed.

 "Oh, fine then.  How about…Fanning…the flames?  Could you show me that one?"

Urza put his hand to his chin, "Hmm, I think I do know that one.  Let me see how it goes." He then pointed his staff directly at Jack, and smiled turned upside down.  He felt how much hotter he was getting, he was beginning to sweat.  When he tried to move, an invisible force field halted him.  It then turned visible, and noticed it was a thin wall of fire.  Every time he touched it, he burned his hand.  His feet began to leave the ground, and he was floating in midair.

 "HEY!  LET ME OUT OF HERE!  GET ME OUT!  IT'S FUCKING HOT IN HERE!"

Jack continued to yell and Urza relaxed his body.  He raised one hand in the air, and snapped his fingers.  At once, an explosion of flame erupted in the ball that Jack was in, completely engulfing him.  The heat from the explosion, singed a nearby tree, and pushed everyone else, minus Urza, back a couple inches.  When the fire dissipated, and the fire ball disappeared, Jack fell onto the ground, his clothes hanging on by threads, his body a dark red from the explosion, although there was no blood, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.  Everyone except Drake rushed over to his aid, all of them in a mad panic.  Sarah, using her white magic, was able to create a healing sphere, and she administered it into Jack's body.  He began to glow and started to heal.

Drake, although not too concerned about Jack, watched Urza very, very carefully.  He wasn't really smiling, but he wasn't very concerned either.  It was a look of disgust, almost, a look of impatience, and disappointment.

Jack regained consciousness, and looked up at his friends who were gathered around him.  He blinked several times, before finally yelling in surprise, and jumping to his feet.

 "WHAT THE FUCK OLD MAN?!  YOU TRYING TO KILL ME OR SOMETHING?!" He held out his hand, and a fireball formed in it, "YOU LIKE PLAYING WITH FIRE THEN, SO HAVE A TASTE OF THIS!"

He threw the fireball directly at Urza.  He just smiled and held out his hand, his fingers making an odd form. Water then burst from his palm, countering the fireball, and dousing it out before it had a chance.  Jack began to get upset.  He charged straight at Urza, winding his fist back.  Urza didn't even try, as he jabbed him in the stomach, flipped him off of his feet, then smacking him away.  Jack became unconscious again.  Urza turned to Drake, who continued to watch.

 "Open your book." Urza said, kicking it towards him, "Start reading."

Drake smirked, got up and started walking away.  Urza's eyes followed him, the looked at the base of the tree where Drake was resting.  He tapped it with the end of his staff and it immediately sliced away.  It was a slow fall at first, Drake not noticing the shadow looming over him.

 "DRAKE!  LOOK OUT!" Sarah yelled.  Drake stopped, and turned around.  To his surprise, and horror, the tree was going to come down right on top of him.  As a reflexed reaction, he covered his head with his arm and closed his eyes.  When the tree didn't land on him, he looked over to see Urza standing behind him, holding the tree up with just one hand, not even trying.  He looked down at Drake, who looked back up at him.  Urza, his face scrunched up with anger, relaxed, as he smiled, although wickedly, at Drake.  He threw the tree off to the side, once again with no effort.  Drake, another sour look coming over his face, stormed off into the thick forest.  Sarah tried to run after him, but Urza stopped her, and with sad-filled eyes, watched him disappear behind a hill.

 "He'll be back." Urza said.  "Now come, night falls, and there are a few things I'd like to tell you." He himself walked off, the opposite from Drake, the group of three, Jack still unconscious, looked between the two paths, and reluctantly followed Urza, Tay and Jesse carrying Jack

Indeed, night had fallen upon this desolate forest on the Urza's world of Dominaria.  The four still remaining, sat around a small fire, watching it crackle and spark.  Beforehand, Jack had received a new uniform, as one may call it.  Unlike Jesse and Sarah, his was actually a hard, yet flexible form of leather.  It wasn't a complete outfit, however, as Urza provided him with some tight, yet comfortable wool pants.  The leather, from what Tay guessed, was meant to be worn by someone with actual bulk, as the chest of the leather was shaped in the form of a muscular chest.  Urza was also at this fire, sitting passively and drinking from a small cup.  Jack was watching him nervously through the fire, as the others basked in its warmth.  Urza spoke up all of a sudden though.

 "You have grown stronger." Urza said, "All of you have.  And I am both impressed…and amazed at the same time.  Most apprentices don't learn the type of skills you have until at least after a year of training.  You have learned it in three weeks.  It befuddles me beyond my knowledge."

 "Maybe…" Jack said, nervous he was going to get attacked again, "maybe, because we're from a supposedly non-magic world…that we can adapt faster to it."

Urza looked at him, then shrug, "Who knows?  It is only up to him that decides that."

Everyone looked at him nervously, Tay asked, "Him?  Who's him?"   
Urza smiled, looking at her, then he set his cup down, "Wasn't there something else you wanted to ask me?"

Tay, looking awfully surprised, responded nervously, "Yes…how did you know?"

 "Telepathy is a simple task for those with natural Blue mana, of course, it doesn't work on everyone, especially those with experience in mana.  But enough about that, what is it you needed to ask me?"

 "Well, actually, there are a couple things that I wouldn't mind an explanation for.  First off, what is this 'Plane' that you talk about?"

 "A Plane is the which you are standing on now.  You would call it worlds, or dimensions for the highly educated.  Between each world, there is an inseparable and nearly unpassable gap that lies between that one Plane, and that of another.  A Planeswalker is able to…'walk' between those gaps."

"Ahkay, what does it take to be a Planeswalker?"

 "You can rest assured that you will never become one." This startles the group, "Although it IS possible for someone to be able to 'walk,' they must have a knowledge and understanding of mana and Planes that far exceed that of human capacity.  This, however, is not only near impossible, but amount of studying needed to accomplish such a feat, will never be in your lifetime."   
"Than, how come you've done it?"

Urza smiled, "Luck I guess.  Of course, it is possible to traverse Planes without being a Planeswalker, but it is very dangerous, and it seems that only those whose heart is of an evil intention possesses the technology to cross Planes through the use of machines.  That is why Rath has become so close to us."

 "Wait, Rath is whole 'other Plane?" Jack asked.

 "Correct.  Rath, however, is different from other Planes…much different.  It is an artificially created Plane, much like that, of a Plane called Phyrexia." A chill ran down their spines, although they didn't know why, "One of the evilest forces known throughout any world, resided there, with his massive army of hideous monsters, and corrupted humans and elves.  Although not a Planeswalker, he could easily crush a Plane with his whim.  However, with the powerful alliance of the Il-Vec, a nomad race, and the elves, they were able to beat back the evil ruler's forces, and kill the ruler themselves." Urza sighed, looking a little downtrodden, "Unfortunately, many years after the fall of Rath, the one who killed the evil ruler, and most of my closest companions, fell in the destruction of Phyrexia, the other artificially created Plane."

There was silence for a moment, then Sarah spoke up, "So, if Rath is a different 'Plane,' how come it is so close to this one?"

 "That, like why you are so strong for being so inexperienced, is a mystery to me.  Perhaps the use of artificial materials has caused it to shorten the gap between its world, and Dominaria."

 "Almost like it's going to ram into us." This caught Urza's attention, as he looked at Tay nervously, he sat there, thinking about something.  Then he got up and began to walk away.

 "I have some business to take care of, I probably won't be back for a while, so try to keep up with your training."  Everyone looked at each other nervously, then Tay jumped up and ran over to Urza.

 "Hey! Urza!"

He stopped, and looked at her, "Yes?"

 "I was wondering…is it really impossible to stop time?" She blinked, and he was gone.  She stood there for a moment, stunned, then she felt a hand come down on her shoulder, and she jumped. 

 "What do you think?" He whispered in her ear, smiling.  He walked off into the woods.  Tay watched him, then she herself smiled, a little more devious than Urza, if possible.  She bounded back off to the fire.

 "So he's not going to be here for a while?  AWESOME!  We got the next couple days off!"  He felt a sharp blast of cold water hit is face.  He squirmed on the ground and glared at Tay.

 "Not if I have anything to say about it." She said, smiling.  Jack, too stunned for words, just lay there looking up at her.  He frowned, scoffed, and looked away from her.  Sarah giggled.

 "I see you're still yourself, huh Tay?"

She smiled and scratched the back of her head, "I'll never be able to go back to school after this, it'll be too boring." They all, minus Jack, had a good laugh.

 "I see the four of you hasn't thought differently about what the old man said." An eerie voice sprung out from the shadows.  Indeed, Drake had come back, just like Urza said he would.  Sarah quickly jumped to her feet and sprinted off to him.

 "Drake!" She yelled, "Are you okay?  Where were you?  I've been worried sick about you!"

He just glared at her, then Tay leaned down next to Jack and started whispering to him.

 "Is it just me, or is Sarah acting nicer than usual?" _("EEE!_  Your arm's bleeding!  What happened?!")__

 "I dunno.  She seems like the same Sarah to me." _("It's nothing.  Leave me alone.")_

 "It's like she's…almost…." _("Here's some bandages!  Or should I just heal you now?")_

 "You don't think…?" _("I said, leave me alone!")_

All this time Jesse just sat there, watching Sarah pampering Drake, and stuttering while doing so.  He was the only one to know what was going on, because he had done the same thing the first time he saw Sarah.  And he didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit.

Within the next few weeks, under the watchful eye of Tay, everyone finished their books.  Although it no way increased their power, or mana, in did give them a better understanding of the mysteries of mana.  Jack was the last one to finish, which annoyed Tay greatly.  But even still, everyone finished their "studying," and it was back to the "practicing." Even Jack was enthusiastic about this, getting out of the book, but the more time went on, the more…closer, Sarah was getting to Drake, and Jesse couldn't do anything, he couldn't do anything, but watch.

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Just a few things, and then I'll be done.  One, please, please PLEASE continue giving me ideas, and sending me information about M:TG.  I know I messed with it a lot in this chapter, and I'll probably continue to too, but any info is greatly appreciated.  And I don't know if I said this already, but I would also like to point out that I have the plot for the entire series set, all the way to the end.  But once again, any advice is appreciated.


	8. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Monsters

Magic: The gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast.

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Colors: A Prelude to Death- Enchanting Dreams

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Three months, three months have passed since Urza left the apprentices out on their own.  For three months, they practiced what little skill Urza had taught them, and most was just learned by book, or accident.  Everyone, although not as strong as a regular mage would be, were quickly becoming very powerful, and skilful in their use of mana.  Everyone was practicing the spells most described by their particular color.  Tay had focused mostly on countering, which she and Jack, who was training in more explosive spells, practiced daily.  Drake concentrated on destruction spells as well, but his focused more on entering the soul of the enemy, and attacking it from there.  Jesse worked mostly on instant spells that increased his strength, defense, and agility.  Also, he seemed to have an uncanny skill in controlling the forest elements, especially vines.  Sarah had not advanced much further than when she started practicing, she was able to heal the others in a mere second, and she also practiced one of a white mages greatest spells, Pacifism.  Now, she wanted to be able to summon a creature, and she tried hard to do so.

Like any other training day for them, it began as usual.  Tay had to force the others to get up and start working; she usually needed help when dealing with Jack.  Drake would go off on his own, to do what, nobody really knew.  Sarah had tried following him, but she always got lost, and eventually had to find her way to Jesse and the others.  This day, however, Drake stayed near them, and Tay and Jack had started an amazing sparring match.

Tay leapt in the air, and tried to drop kick Jack.  He ducked under it, and bounded off behind her.  When he landed on his feet again, he formed two small fireballs and threw them at Tay.  She dodged one, and threw out her hand, countering the other one with Counterspell.  Jack leapt backwards, his feet gliding just an inch off the ground.  Tay cupped her hands and closed her eyes.  At once, psionic energy began to form, and ripple around her body.  She moaned softly, growing louder every second, then she whipped her hands back, and flung them in front of her again.

 "PSIONIC BLAST!" She yelled.  Jack crossed his arms to block it, but the blast was still strong enough to send him backwards on his back.  Tay stumbled backwards, feeling the side-effect of the spell.  Although Psionic Blast is powerful in damage, and less cost efficient, there is a recoil of damage equal that of about half of the damage given to the opponent, best used in the beginning of a fight.  Tay rubbed her head, feeling nauseous, as Jack struggled to rise to his feet.  He stumbled around when he did, before facing Tay again.  He shook it off, and began to form another fireball in front of him.  This one was larger than previous ones, much larger, about the size of a basketball backboard.  Tay gathered up her energy, and prepared for the worst.  He lifted the ball high above his head, and launched it at Tay.  Her eyes squinted as the gigantic ball made its way towards her.  She cupped her hands again, and flung them out in front of her.  This time, it was a large burst of water the shot from her hands.  It hit the ball directly on, stopping it to a halt, although not diminishing it.  Steam began to rise from the middle, as both forces tried to push the other one back.  Tay was growing readily tiresome, and weren't not for a quick burst of adrenaline, her Hydroblast wouldn't have swallowed the fireball.  Jack wasted no time, as he raised his hand in the air.  Dark clouds began to form, as he prepared to unleash his latest spell.  Using his mana to produce charges, he was able to call upon the awesome element of lightning.  Although not very skilled in it, it did provide a quick jab to his opponent.

About twenty yards away, the three other apprentices watched them, most of them.  Drake was leaning against a tree, about half-way between Jesse and Sarah.  Both of whom were sitting Indian style on two large rocks, except Jesse was watching them.  Sarah was in deep meditation.  Drake, his eyes not leaving the battlefield, started talking to Jesse.

 "Your friend's being a little reckless with his powers."

 "Jack's always been like this.  He'll do whatever it takes to win."

Drake smiled evilly, "And yet he's lost to her ten times already."

Jesse didn't say anything, he just continued to watch.

In the battlefield, Jack had finished, and a small bolt of lightning came tearing down from the sky.  Tay dodged it, and dodged yet another one.  Then she looked up at Jack, and smiled.  She felt his energy diminishing fast, and dodging small bolts wasn't a big problem for her.  When the last one hit, she kneeled on one foot, and sprinted towards him.  Her fist connected squarely with his chin, and he went flying backwards.  He lay there for a minute, as Tay was in a finishing position, breathing heavily.  Jack then sat up, holding his jaw and screaming.

 "SHIT!  Did you have to hit me so hard?!  God damn!  I think you broke something!"

 "I win, that makes it eleven to zero." Tay said, exhausted but happy.

 "Oh no!  I still got a little…" And with that his knees gave out on him, and fell on his butt again.

Tay laughed maniacally, and yelled over to Jesse, "Yoo-hoo!  Jessssssseeee!  Write down another one for the ladies!"

Jesse sighed, pulled out a piece of paper, and made a tick mark in it.  On one side, it had girls.  And the other was guys.  So far, there was fifteen tick marks in the girls, only two in the boys.  Drake's doing.

Jack fell on his back, looking up in the sky, "Damn.  I can't believe this.  My God, my body aches.  Hey Sarah!  Can you help me please?"

Nothing happened, everyone looked over at noticed that she was still in meditation.  They just stood there, watching her for several minutes.   She was sitting there, so relaxed, so calm.  All of a sudden, they heard an odd chirping sound.  Out of the sky, flew a bird.  It was about the size of a full-grown robin, except it was an off-white color.  Sarah held out her hands, and the bird landed on it.  It trotted around on her palms for a while, before it chirped again, and Sarah opened her eyes.  It looked up at her, and cocked its head.  She smiled wide, and tears began to form in her eyes, then she held the bird closely.

 "Getting a little worked up over a stupid bird." Drake comments, dully as usual, everyone glared at him, which he just shrugged off.  Sarah uncrossed her legs, and trotted over to Drake, holding out the bird in front of her.

 "Look Drake.  It's my first summon.  Come on, look."

Drake glanced at it, scoffed, and looked away.  The bird flew out of her hands and proceeded to peck him in the head.  He yelped, and began to swing his arms wildly trying to get rid of it, all the while everyone laughing at him.  The bird began to fly off and Drake just glared at it.  He held out his hand at it.  The bird stopped dead in its tracks, and began to squirm, as if something was attacking it from the inside.  But as soon as it started, it stopped, and began to fly around everyone's heads.  Drake just blinked.

 "Wha-WHAT the hell?!"

The bird flew back to Sarah, who caught it in her hands, "It's a sundiver Drake.  I read that it's immune to black spells" She held the bird out to him again, "Come on, just be nice." Drake was not pleased at all, his face scrunched with anger, he smacked Sarah's hand away from him, causing the bird to fly away.  Sarah yelped, and held her hand back.  Drake went storming off into the woods.

 "My God…" Jesse said, "What a jerk."  Everyone except Sarah nodded, who was watching him go off, then she started out after him.  Jesse, shocked at first, tried going out after her, but Tay stopped him.

 "Let's not get separated.  Sarah will lose him, and then come back." But Jesse didn't care about that, he formed a fist and punched the rock next to him, creating faults all along the top.  He relaxed a little bit, in body anyways, and turned to them.

 "So…what's next?" He asked.

Tay tapped her chin, thinking, "Well….since those two are gone now, maybe…."

 "OH!  Mages!  Oh thank goodness!" A voice came out from behind them.  They whipped around and saw a middle-aged man in peasant clothing, looking awfully distraught.  Everyone's eyes were bulged at the sight of another human being, their first in three months aside them.  "Oh please…PLEASE oh powerful mages, you have to help us."

Everyone looked at each other, and Jesse spoke up, "We're not exact…."

 "What do you need my good friend?!" Jack said all too cockily and proudly.  The other two quickly glared at him.

 "Good sirs, we are being attacked by a lawless group of rogues.  We tried to fight them, but their skill is greater than our own.  Plus, they have a kavu as their attack animal, and its tearing up the town, killing all of our people!"

The others tried to talk, but Jack interrupted again, "Fear not my fine friend!  We shall take care of these rouges, and the vile beast that threatens your village!  Now, lead us forward!" He said, with too much anticipation.

 "Oh thank you!  Thank you great wizards!" The man proclaimed, and sprinted off into the woods.  Jack, not noticing the death stares the other two were giving them, asked them, "What's a kavu?"

He felt the sharp pain of two hands smacking the back of his head.  The old man bounded back up, yelling, "Come young masters!  This way!" 

In all of their awe and wonder of their actually "first" task as mages, they nearly forgot the fact that, outside them, they saw human life for the first time in months.  But the man was in too much of a panic for them to ask any questions, and they had to concentrate on their upcoming battle, although they weren't concentrating much.  Even they hadn't realized the potency one would have if they were to attack an entire town, knowing well the magics that others would possess.  It was a long run, over half-an-hour, they were several hundred yards away, looking down on it from a large hill.  The man was nearly out of breath, but his determination to save his town kept him going.

 "Quickly…down…here…." He said, about to collapse from exhaustion.  In a typical hero fashion, Jack stood on the hill looking down on the village.  He was about to speak when Tay pushed him down.

 "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She yelled.  He looked up to see Jesse's foot sprinting past him.  He mumbled something, then got up, brushed himself off, and tried to catch up to them.

Tay and Jesse came to a screeching halt when they entered the village. Jack wasn't far behind.  They all stopped to overlay the mess the man's town was in.  Shattered wood everywhere, bits of broken glass, and the distinct smell of blood was in the air.  They heard the far-off sound of people screaming, mixed with the rumblings of what they perceived as some sort of beast.  They slowly began to walk down the long path in front of them, with houses on each side.  The growling grew louder towards their right, and frankly, they weren't that excited about what it could have been.  They stopped right in the middle of the walkway.

 "Well…" Tay gulped, "Jack you got us into this mess, go and see what it is!"

 "I-I-I nominate Jesse!" He blurted out.

 "I'm not the one who lied to get us into this mess, you go."

 "We-we-we-well…Jesse, you did defeat that one…big creature thing, you know.  Before we came to Dom-dom…this place."

 "Well…that is true." Tay said rather curiously, "And we very well can't trust Jack to finish a job."

 "Yep.  That's right.  Can't trust me at all.  I'm lazy you know."

Jesse, still rather upset from before, finally yelled out, "Fine!  I'll go!"  And he stormed off past a building.

Further past it, Jesse slowed his pace to a more depressive walk.  He still felt the heavy burden that was pressing around his heart.  Sarah, the woman whom he had been in love since the third grade, had fallen for another man.  He remembered, that all her past boyfriends, were just something…he couldn't really explain it.  She no doubt liked them, but Jesse knew that she had no real feelings for them, past that of friends.  Maybe it was the fact that she just wanted everyone to be friends, and this was her way of trying to get everyone closer together.  Even the high school bully, Milfred, whom she had the longest "relationship" with, she felt not much more feelings towards him.  He knew this, because he always seemed to have an, understanding of what her emotions were.  He couldn't explain it, he just, read her mind, almost, if that was the case.  But now, Jesse noticed something different developing within Sarah.  It was a feeling that Jesse had known, long before Sarah had ever felt.  It was the feel of that first heart-skip, the rushing of her blood, the "good" feel of nausea that someone gets when they are near someone.  And that always seemed to be around Drake.  Even now, as he walked slowly down the alleys, even down do the deepest pit of his stomach, did it hurt.  This was the feeling the plagued him every time Sarah seemed to be around Drake, and with being out of eye distance from him, did it only make him sicker.  Meanwhile, up on the roofs, a small figure watched him maliciously.

Jesse finally regained his senses, and snapped into reality.  The noises had stopped, and now, just a quiet wind rushed through the buildings.  Jesse looked around the dark alleyways, for being quite a sunny day, it was curiously dark in this place.  Someone was near him, Jesse could feel the tingling on the back of his neck.  He closed his eyes and sniffed the air.  It was a familiar scent…he sniffed again.  It was faint, but it was there.  The smell of mana.  Where it was, he had no idea.  He just gripped his robe tightly and walked off.  If they tried anything, he would notice the increase of mana, and he'd be able to dodge it.

The small figure, unaware of the ability of Jesse, moved with him along the treetops.

 "He's moving," Jesse thought.

The figure bolted across the rooftop, nearly missing, but had no time to steady itself as it lunged forward at Jesse.

 "THERE!" He yelled, turning to face the figure.  With one hand he caught it in the air and threw it on the ground, on its back.  It laid there stunned.  Jesse watched carefully as the figure, darkened by the shadows, sprung up at his face again.  It slashed at his face with wicked speed, but not much else.  He grabbed it by the back of the shirt and slammed it against the wall.  He reached back and focused his mana.  Thorns immediately began to crawl towards him, forming a cup-like object around his hand.  As he threw his hand towards the object, as the distance closed, Jesse noticed that this "thing," was none other than a small, human girl.  His eyes bolted open, as the thorns missed the girl's face by an inch.  The girl, breathless from her fight, looked terrified between the fist of thorns to her left, and Jesse's face, also terrified, in front of her.  He jerked his hand from the wall, leaving a gaping crater in the side of it, as he fell to his knees, the thorns dying away from his hand.

 "K-Kid…what…are you doing?" He said, breathless.  The girl ran over and kicked him in the stomach.

 "You jerk!  I'm not going to let you touch mommy or daddy!" And she tried to kick him again.  Jesse, a little shocked, blocked the kick, sending the girl to the ground.  She held back her tears of pain as she rubbed her foot.

 "You kick pretty hard for a little girl." Jesse said, SOMEWHAT sympathetic, he leaned over to her, "Here let me…."

With a quick speed the girl pulled what looked like a knife and swiped it at Jesse.  "Stay away from me!  You're not going to feed me to that thing!"

 "Th-thing…what thing?" He asked confusedly.

 "Don't lie!  I know you're one of the mages who's attacking us!  Don't lie!"

 "M-mages…." Jesse thought about this, then it hit him, "Ohhh, you think I'm one of the bad guys, huh?" She nodded, although sourly, Jesse breathed a sigh of relief, "Whoo, thank goodness, for a minute, I thought YOU were one of the bad guys.  Huh, silly me."

 "What are you talking about you dummy?!  You attacked us!"

 "Actually I'm here to help this town, although I can't guarantee anything."

 "YOU LIE!"

 "No really!" He said, trying to convince her.  She wasn't going to change her mind unless he showed her some proof, "Uh…um…oh!  I got it, how about if you come with me, and I'll show you my friends.. now, if you'll just…" She scooted backwards, glaring at him.  Jesse sighed, and pointed his finger towards her.  As she pondered what he was doing, a small vine snuck up behind her, and grabbed the knife away from her.  She struggled to get it back, but the pain in her leg slowed her down.  Jesse took the knife by both hands.

 "I hate to do this but…" He snaps the blade in two, "I can't have you lying here helpless like this, I don't know what we're up against."

Jesse noticed the little girl blush a little, before her face reverted back to the frowned version, "Fine, but I still don't believe you."  Jesse bent down and picked her up, hoisting her onto his shoulders.

 "Now I'm trusting that you don't have anymore of those knives so you don't stab me in the neck." Jesse said, jokingly.  The girl was not amused.  Jesse began to walk back to the main road, rolling his eyes along the way.

Meanwhile….

 "You think Jesse stopped that thing?" Tay asked, rather nervously.

 "Either that or he gave it bad indigestion." Jack replied, Tay glared at him.

 "Would you stop with those pessimistic remarks?!  You're starting to worry me even!"

 "But it's true, I remember when me and him were kids, we got in a big fight and I bit him.  God awfullest taste too, I was sick for days." He never noticed Tay picking up a large piece of wood before he felt it hard on the back of the head.  And that time, Jesse and the little girl came out of the alleyway.  Tay was relieved to see him.

 "Oh, Jesse!  Did you find anything?  Hey…" She noticed the little girl, "Who's the kid?"

 "Uh, I uh….I dunno." He answered, "What is your name?"

The girl glared at him, and turned away from him.

Jack, recovering from the blow, adds, "Well it doesn't really matter right now, first we gotta find…."  
"JACK, LOOK OUT!" Jesse yelled all of a sudden.  Jack stood there, as a sharp blur flew passed the side of his face, nicking his ear.  There was silence for a moment, as jack stood there, bleeding.  He slowly turned around.

Behind them, about fifty yards away, were four people.  One of them was a man with dark brown hair, really spiky.  He wore a loose, cloth around his chest, with a large armguard covering his shoulders down to his elbow.  There was two big, burly looking guys, both of them carrying massive swords, and covered from head to toe with armor, well everything except their heads.  And leaning on one knee, there was a woman.  Her face was pale, but her hair was that of a raven.  She was extremely thin too, and her face wasn't all that much of a sight either.  In her hands, however, was a large bow about three feet long, and an arrow was being pulled back.  It seemed to be aimed at Jack again, and she released it.  Before anyone knew what hit them, the arrow zoomed past them again, this time, creating a long slash across Jack's neck.  He stood there, petrified for awhile, before he rubbed the gash, and looked at the blood on his hands.  By this time, he was done being scared.

 "So," he called to them, "I'm assuming you're the people responsible for this." He motioned his arms around the destroyed town.  The tall man with the armguard looked around, quite content with himself, smiled and called back.

 "So what of it?"

 "No reason," Tay said, creating a fist, "Just that we're the insurance company, and we're here to make sure you're covered."

Another sinister smile, "So what if we aren't?"

 "Then we're going to have to take you in." Jack replied, his lifted up his arm and shot a fireball straight at them.  The man just watched it, as it collided with an invisible force, bouncing off to the side, exploding.  Jack was rather surprised.

 "You are too much of a nuisance for me, I'm not going to waste my time on you." With that, he lifted his hand in the air, and snapped his fingers.  All was quiet for a while, the other four listening for anything out of the ordinary.  Then it started to come.  It was a large rumbling, the entire ground was shaking, and it was coming to their right!  They quickly turned their heads, and the house next to them shattered in a spray of wood and rock.  The creature stood large, nearly twelve feet tall.  Two large tusks protruded from its mouth, lined by a row of teeth half as large as them.  Its hide resembled that of sedimentary rock…really HARD sedimentary rock.  It let loose a tremendous roar, lifting its entire front body in the air, and its feet came crashing down, shaking the ground underneath them.

 "THAT'S A KAVU?!" Tay, Jesse and Jack yelled.  The creature roared again as it looked towards its master.  He nodded at Jesse and the others, the kavu roared yet again, but this time, its foot came crashing down right in the middle of them.  All four of them, just looked at the kavu's foot in horror, then they ran.

 "JES…SE!" Jack yelled, "GROW…INTO…SOMETHING!"

 "I WISH I COULD JACK!  BUT I DON'T REMEMBER HOW!"

 "WHAT?!"

 "I SUGGEST WE STOP THE DAMN BICKERING AND START A RUNNIN'!" Tay screamed at them.  For once, everyone agreed on something.  As they ran, the kavu began to run too, roaring a deafening roar.  The four were actually bouncing off the ground with each step the kavu took, it was so close.

Jesse, still carrying the little girl, began to think, "Uh, okay how did it go?" A deafening roar overcame them, disrupting Jesse's train of thought, "Now uh, lesse, it was uh…uh…oh come on."  The kavu lowered its head to ground and opened its mouth.  "Green mana, green mana, escaping spells uh uh...THAT'S IT!" He ran a little faster, next to Tay, and handed her the little girl, "HERE!  DON'T LET GO OF HER!" He yelled.  With that, he screeched to a hault.  With no hesitation, his eyes glowed a mysterious green color, and he raised his hands in hands in the air.  Almost immediately, a thick layer of trees burst from the ground.  

The kavu, although mighty it was in its own way, slammed head first into this wall of tree, nearly rendering it unconscious.  As it shrugged off the blow, he looked at the trees, and let out a loud roar of anger, and began to thrash at them with his mighty claws.  Several trees, ones that he rammed head first, fell in one swipe.  There was still many others, most were not weakened by the blow.  As the kavu mercilessly thrashed the trees, and finally burst from the other side, it noticed the prey had escaped into the woods.  It let out another roar of anger, as Jesse and the others trudged up the large hill overlooking the town.

 "WHY CAN'T YOU GO BACK THERE?!" The little girl screamed at the three.

Jack, breathing heavily, looked up at the girl menacingly, "One reason kid, we ain't strong enough to take on a monster like that."

Tears started to form in the little girl's eye, "I DON'T CARE!  MY MOMMY AND DADDY ARE STILL BACK THERE, AND YOU PEOPLE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN SAVE THEM!"

Jack looked away from her, mumbling, "You're parents still alive?  I doubt it."

However, that wasn't low enough to not be heard, and the girl held back her tears as she picked up a large rock and flung it at Jack's head.  He didn't even bother to look at her as his hand reached up and grabbed the rock inches from his head.

Tay was looking at the ground despondently, "We would have a chance if Drake were here."

Jesse heard this, and his blood began to boil.  What he said next was part out of jealously, and part of actual courage, "We don't NEED Drake!" He yelled, his voice echoing in the hills.  This startled the little girl, but only received glares from the other two, "We can at least destroy ONE monster by ourselves, can't we?!  Besides, if we don't act quickly, that town will be destroyed, they'll leave, and they'll destroy another town!"

 "Birds are one thing Jesse," Jack said, "But we are dealing with one hell of a creature, who is undoubtedly being backed by some form of enchantments." Tay's eyes then widened.

 "Waitaminute…." Her voice trailed off.  Her hand began to rub the area around her mouth.  "There were no enchantments on that thing, but…." The others looked at her curiously, as her eyes shifted from the ground to them, "It did have an item on it…an…."

Jesse's eyes widened, "An artifact.  I remember it too.  There was a slight pulsing I could feel from the creature, that wasn't of its own.  I'm not sure of what it was, but there was definitely another energy source that was there."

 "Come to think of it, I do remember something off about the creature's head when I looked at it." Jack said curiously.

 "Then it's settled!" Jesse said rather sure of himself, "We'll get rid of the monster by destroying whatever's backing it up…."

 "That still leaves the problem of the raiders." Tay said rather despondently.  "If they can summon a creature of that immense proportion, there is no doubt that they have some other hidden tricks up their sleeves."

 "We'll think of that when we finish off the kavu!" Jesse yelled, more assuring than before.  Before anyone could stop him, he flung his back to them, his robes swaying from the force, and he began to trudge down the hill back to the town.

Tay's eyes were once again wide with shock, "That's something I was expecting from you Jack."

Jack, also gaping with shock, rested as his face curved to a devilish gin, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." He turned his head to Tay, smiling wickedly, "So, you coming?"

Tay began to rub the bridge of her nose, "Acting without any sort of strategy whatsoever.  That is so typical of you." She sighed, and began to follow Jesse down the hill.

The little girl began to run after them, before Jack's hand slammed down on her shoulder.

 "Where do you think you're going?"

The girl, who was no more than seven or eight, gave him a most evil glare, as if to say "Back off." Jack didn't flinch, nor did he give it back.  Instead, he had his eyebrow cocked in a confused manner.  He sighed, grabbed the girl's face and shoved her behind him, "Don't get in our way and you won't get hurt." And with that, he followed Tay and Jesse, the girl following him.

The day was almost to an end, although it had ended completely for the kavu…almost.  As it slept, Jesse took note that the creature not only looked completely harmless asleep, it also resembled that of a dog as it curls up to tuck in for the night.  He heard a snap of a twig, and whipped around to find Jack, Tay, and the girl come out from some underbrush.  He felt the fear inside of him settle down a bit.

 "Glad you guys came." He said happily.

 "Ah, we can't leave ya behind." Jack said, peering at the kavu, "Besides, Sarah would kill me if we did."

 "Amen to that." Tay assured, Jesse, however, wasn't.  He shot a glare behind them, and noticed the girl, keeping her gaping eyes on the kavu.  His brow furrowed in disappointment.

 "Couldn't keep her to stay there?"

 "The little pipsqueak has a nasty kick." Jack and Tay said at the same time.  Jesse almost smiled, then turned his attention to the kavu.  His eyes squinted, trying to get a good look at its forehead.

 "I still can't see the artifact."

 "It's too far away, we need to get in closer."

 "If we get in too close, its masters might sense our mana."

Everyone let out a "Hmmm...," then looked at the little girl.  Although more afraid, she was actually excited.

Slowly, the girl crept on her hands and knees, closer and closer to the sleeping kavu.  It's  breath was deep and heavy, as if it was the first time it had slept in a long time.  Beads of sweat ran down the girls head, neck, and back.  Her hand came down a small twig, ans it snapped louder than it should have.  At least that's what the girl thought.  She froze in her tracks, as the kavu grunted, but never move.  She looked up, and she saw a tiny object in the middle of the kavu's forehead.  She took a few more baby steps, until she was able to make it out.  She had seen the thing before, but never it a position like this.  It was supposed to be worn around the human head, one bar running from slightly below the forehead, to the top of the head, and one more bar running from ear to ear.  This, however, was stretched further than what she thought it was supposed to.  Slightly below the exact center, where the two bars crossed, rested a shining jewel.  The girl, too frightened to sigh, completing her task, slowly rose from her position, her hands shaking, as she slowly tried to turn around.  It was at that time, the wind started to pick up.  A gust blew from behind the girl's back, upwind of the kavu's resting place.  It took a deep breath of the wind…and its large eyes shot open at the smell of human stink.  Its eyes focused center, as they came upon the little girl, whose mouth was gaping open with fright as tears began to sell in her eyes.  From behind her she heard the loud whisperings of the others telling her to run for cover.  But she could barely move, how could she run?  She started backing up slowly, and the kavu rose to its feet, in slow pursuit of her.  Her eyes became wider, as did her mouth, until she slipped on a moss-covered rock.  She rolled over to her stomach, a little winded, and stared up at the kavu as it began to rear up and opened its gaping mouth.  She closed her eyes and her heart almost stopped.

There was a loud crack, as if someone slammed rock and rock.  She whipped her head around and saw Jesse in a finishing position of an uppercut, the kavu's head recoiling from the blow as it fell to its side.  Jesse wasted no time as he sprang back from his punch and with all his strength grabbed the two protruding tusks from its bottom jaw.

 "Get her out of here!" He yelled.  Even as strong as he was with mana, the kavu was stronger, as sprang to it's feet, Jesse still holding on to the tusks.  The kavu roared, and Jesse tried desperately not to get flung into its mouth, for that matter, not to get anywhere near its mouth.  But the violent swinging of the kavu's head caused his hands to slip from the slippery teeth, and his back was pressed hard into a tree.  By this time, Tay had already reached the girl, as she held out a hand to help her up.  But the kavu was quick, as it raised it head, and sent it crashing down on the two.  Tay recognized this, and threw out her arm, glowing blue.  The kavu smashed its head into the transparent shield.  Although strong enough to knock the kavu back, it wasn't strong to the point of holding out.  Tay's mind folded in, as the force to her mind sent her flying backwards, rendering her unconscious.

The kavu reared back on its hind legs once again, as it readied a third charge.  But this time, it was stopped as a large fireball exploded in it's chest.  It didn't throw it on its back, but did push it.  Jack had already hoisted Tay onto his shoulder, and grabbed the girl by her clothes, and was almost dragging her backwards.  The kavu landed on its feet, stared at Jack running away with the girls.  It squinted its eyes and reared again, roaring.

 "The middle!" The little girl yelled.  Jack looked down at the girl confused, "The item!  The…artifact!  It's in the center of its forhead!" Jack came to a screeching halt, right next to Jesse as he gained his senses.  Jack looked between Jesse, and the raging monster.  It was almost a matter of time before it picked it up their scent, and they had to act quick.

 "Jesse!" Jack yelled, "Do you trust me?!"

 "What?!  Of course I do!"

 "Then I need some vines!  Grip one end, and have the other wrap around the tree!"

 "Wait a minute Jack!  I trust you as a friend!  Not as a strategist!"

 "Now's not the time Jess!  Just do it!"

Jesse looked at his worriedly, then  raised his hands, almost immediately, green vines began to wrap down from the top of the tree in a snake-like manner, and shot out to Jesse's palm.  He wrapped it around his wrist once, twice, three times.  He pulled hard, and had an idea of what Jack was doing.   
"This is crazy!" He yelled, pulling harder.  Jack wasn't listening as he was searching the ground for something.  He found a rock buried under the earth, and he dug it out.  It was that large, but it was large enough.  He looked at the kavu, and his eyes met its.  He then looked back to Jesse.

 "Get ready!" He yelled.  Jesse gave one last tug, as he heard the monster roar.  This was Jack's cue, as he ran towards the vines.  At the last second, he turned his back into them as Jesse let his arm reach back to give Jack more recoil.  With all his strength, Jesse flung Jack, using the vines, at the kavu.

The kavu heard him before it saw him.  Jack was yelling loudly, as the rock in his hands began to get hotter and hotter, cradled in his chest.  Within feet of the kavu, Jack flung his arm with the rock out at the kavu.

 "SMASH!"

The rock collided head on with the artifact.  The rock shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, but so did the artifact.  The impact against the artifact gave Jack enough force to bounce off its head, and back-flipped several yards behind the kavu, landing in a most corny finishing stance.  He smiled to himself, and turned around at his fallen foe.  Too bad it wasn't down.

The kavu staggered around for a while, almost as if it were drunk.  After a minute of dizziness, the kavu stood still for a moment.  But it was a different still then before.  It wasn't threatening at all, but more at peace with itself.  It looked around, its monstrous body shifting with it.  It sniffed the air, and stared down at Jesse.  He was in a fighting stance, sweat running down his brow, the remains of torn vines dangling from his hands.  The kavu grunted, and walked off to his right, either not caring, or not seeing him as a harm.  As it walked away into the wilderness, Jack could only be befuddled.

 "Wah…gah…bu…." Were the only words from his mouth.  He looked over to Jesse, the exact same confused look on his face.  He shrugged, and they both turned to watch the last of the thundering footsteps disappear.  Jack's confusion quickly turned into pure giddiness, as he leapt up in the air yelling wildly.  Even Jesse was relieved and proud of himself for "defeating" an opponent, if you can call it that.  But neither of them cared, especially Jack, who quickly latched his arms around Jesse's neck.  At that time, Jesse was also overcome with happiness, as he laughed and yelled with Jack.

The little girl looked at them strangely.  Perhaps, the strongest enemy was out of the enemy, but there were still more.  Aside from that, with all that fighting and strength they put behind those blows, she was even more surprised at how they could even move like that.  Perhaps these mages weren't any ordinary mages.  They were young, stronger than most mages were at their age, and yet with the way they act, it seemed hardly believable that they had spent their entire lives studying magic and mana.

Tay had finally regained consciousness, but was still weak from that attack.  She was used to physical blows, but that attack hurt her mind, being as her shield was part of mind's creations, and she wasn't used to blows to her mental state.

 "Hey guys…" she said weakly.  The two slowed down to a mild chuckle as they looked  at her, smiling wide.  She looked back at them, sharing their happiness, sharing their feelings.  She smiled back, were it not for perpetual weakness, almost the same happiness as them.  She slowly stood to her feet, nearly falling over doing so.

 "I'm glad…you guys are alright…." She said softly, Jack and Jesse's grin grew wider.  "But…don't forget guys, we still…."

She never finished as Jack wrapped his arms around her.  It wasn't affectionate or anything, it was almost the exact type of hug he gave Jesse, a best bud hug.  Or perhaps, that was what he wanted her to believe.

 "WOOH!" He yelled, swinging her wildly, knowing full well of her stability.  "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT TAY?!  WE ACTUALLY DID IT!  Alibi we didn't necessarily FINISH it off, and you weren't that much of a help neither, BUT STILL WE WON!"  He stopped swinging her around and just pulled her closer to him, still laughing like a complete idiot.  But for a brief second, Tay wasn't angry, ecstatic, nor grievous.  Instead, a small smile came across her lips, and her face blushed a deep red.  She was about to hug him back, when her instincts took over, and she shoved him away in a panic.

 "You idiot!" She yelled, "We still got four lunatics to deal with, and who knows how powerful they are!  And you two are going on like you've already won!" Jack just chuckled, and her face became a little les red than before.

 "You're so uptight Tay." He said calmly, "Although perhaps a small victory in one of our many soon-to-be accomplishments, it still a victory nonetheless, we should be privileged to celebrate such an early victory."

 "But…but….  Jesse!  You can't possibly feel the same way!"

Jesse smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry Tay, but I have to take Jack on this one.  We still have to fight in about five minutes here, but still, we should have a small premature celebration."  Tay sighed and looked at the ground.  She was silent for a moment, before her shoulders started to vibrate with laughter.  She stood straight up, and pointed to the center of town.

 "Well…what are we waiting for?!  Let's go!" She didn't take a step before her temporary frailty made her collapse onto the ground.  Jack helped her to her knees, as he patted her back.

 "It appears not."

Jesse smiled and nodded, then looked over to the little girl.

 "So, are you going to tell me your name?"

 "Wh-why?  Why do you want to know?"

Jesse shrugged, "Curiosity.  I hate calling people names other than their own."

The girl looked at the ground and blushed, "Well…i…it's…my name…my name is….."

 "Never mind." Jesse said, waving her off.  "Just take care of Tay here, we shouldn't be long."

There was an explosion further away from them.  Far enough for them to get away from Tay and the girl, but close enough so that they were still in danger.

 "Better get goin'." Jack said, cracking his knuckles.

Jesse sighed, his happiness turning to impatience, "Do we really have to fight again?  Geez…." And with that, both him and Jack headed off into the center of town.

***********

End Chapter 8


	9. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Lies

Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast

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Colors: A Prelude to Death-Lies

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The sun was setting, its rays burning into a mixture of red, orange, and pinkish colors.  The town that had been attacked by the raiders was almost nothing but rubble.  Few buildings remained standing, and Jack and Jesse wondered if anyone was left alive.  The temperature had dropped considerably from the noon, although considering the mid-day, made evening just perfect.  The wind had picked up a little as well, but no stronger than to flap the loose ends of Jesse's robes.  Both him and Jack continued to walk towards the center of town.  This was an extremely odd situation for them.  One, this was the first actual fight with someone with mana, not to mention there were four of them they had to deal with.  Second of all, aside from a very minute, very faded feeling, they could not sense their mana anywhere.

 "Jack, do you sense them anywhere?"

 "Not really."

The two continued to slowly turn their heads, as they walked further into the ruins of the town.  They paused for a short while, in front of a jagged piece of a destroyed building with shards of cloths hanging from the crevices.

 "Gyah…this place is giving me the creeps." Jack mumbled.

Jesse's eyes darted back and forth, "Just keep your guard up.  They're probably using some kind of magic to cover up their tracks."

Jack reached out to the grab one of the pieces of cloth flapping in the gentle breeze.  As his fingers rubbed against the dirty concrete, the piece of wall collapsed in, making a loud crumbling sound.

 "Jack!" Jesse hissed under his breath.

 "Sorry!" Jack replied.

They heard it before they saw it.  The slight 'twang' of a thick, tighten piece of twine, and the split second 'whoosh' of an incredibly fast object.  As Jack turned around, it was too late for him to dodge the shaft of the arrow. 

Elsewhere, on the outskirts of town, the little girl is patiently kicking tiny rocks as she leans against a tree.  Tay, however, isn't being as calm.

 "Damn him…leaving me here like this.  That jerk doesn't know what he's getting into, but that's because he NEVER does.  He's always lost without me.  Like a big, stupid baby, that's what he is.  Meh, why should I care, he wants to get killed, I'll let the little bastard." She started to trail off as her head sank lower and lower, her hair covering up her eyes as she mumbled incoherently but aggressive.  Finally, she snapped, "THAT DOES IT!  I'M GOING TO HELP HIM!"

She bolts upright, only to be cut back to her knees.  But she struggles to get her feet, and wobbly tries to walk.  The little girl, who was startled by the outburst, quickly ran to her side and grabbed her sleeve as Tay was screaming obscenities.  She quickly glared down at her, very, furious.

 "What?!" She bellowed.  The girl, although scared at first, stood her ground and stomped her foot.

 "Lady!  The man in the green said to stay here!  He asked me to keep an eye on you…and…" she blushed as her fists tightened, "That's what I'm going to do!"

Tay had her fair share of surprises, one would think she would be getting tired of them.  Her mouth gaped wide open in shock (yet again), and she stared out into the rubble, both of the guy's bodies hidden behind it.  She grumbled, and plopped herself down, her arms crossed.  She then shot a glare back at the girl, stern as ever, and asked, "And what's with the sudden change of attitude for you kid?  You become brighter than the sun when Jesse is involved."

 "NOTHING YOU JERK!" 

Blood splattered from the joint in Jack's shoulder as the thin arrow penetrated the other side of his shoulder.  His pupils shrunk, as the pain that ran through his body instantly drove him into shock.

 "JACK!" Jesse yelled, running quickly to keep Jack from collapsing.  He faintly heard the same noise again.  He looked up to see the pale woman pulling the twine on her bow backwards.  Jesse threw out his hand towards her, and just as she let the arrow go, a thick Wall of Trees sprang out from the ground.  She lowered her bow and gazed uninterestingly into the mess of trees.

On the other side, Jesse began lightly smacking Jack, "Jack….Jack!  Wake up!"

Jack's head quickly shook itself awake, but only as quickly scrunched in pain as gripped his shoulder and arrow.

 "Jack, we have no time for that!"

 "Shut up!  I can't move my arm with this thing…ARRRGHHH!" He yelled as he ripped the arrow clean out of his shoulder.  He growled fiercely as he stood up, clutching his shoulder.  It wasn't long before two explosions sent the Wall of Trees ablaze, pushing Jack and Jesse backwards.  As they looked up through the billowing smoke, the two hulking men with thick armor burst through the top of the smoke, looking down on Jesse and Jack.  Jesse thought he heard something, but was distracted when he saw the red balls of heat in their hands.  As they flung it at them, they both shot away from each other as both balls collided on the ground and exploded.  Jack rolled on the ground, till he stood on his feet.  He heard another hiss, as the arrow narrowly missed his face.

 "DAMMIT!" He yelled, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM LADY!?" He looked over to see one of the brutes fling another ball of heat at him.  Once again he sprinted away as the ball of heat collided with a wall behind him, sending chunks of rock all over the place.

Jesse raised his hands in the air and flung them down.  The ground burst open as large green vines raced across and in the stone streets.  The large warrior soon became caught in the onslaught, and the vines lifted him up and off the ground, as they tightened around his body.  He began to struggle, only to be resisted by Jesse's control over the vines.  Jesse's hand was pointed at them, and slowly began to make a fist, slowly crushing the warrior.

He struggled some more, then stopped altogether.  He glared at Jesse, and put his hand to his chest.  Jesse heard the sound again, and he wasn't distracted enough to not notice it.  It was a 'whirring' sound, like an engine starting up, except high-pitched.  When the warrior brought his hand away from his chest, it exploded in another ball.  But this was not red or glowing like the other ones.  It was a thick black, almost smoky ball.  Jesse became distracted again, as the warrior flung it at him.  Jesse held out his hand, and the ball bounced off it straight into the air.

 "OW!" Jesse yelled, "What the…" As the ball came down, Jesse ignorantly caught it in his hands.  "This…this isn't a spell!  It's metal, like a…." As he pondered carelessly over it, the ball shot electricity through Jesse's body.  He screamed in torment as the electricity attacked his mind.  He gripped his head in anguish and fell to his knees.  He felt like his brain had been hit by a shovel.

The vines holding the warrior, quickly browned and died.  The warrior jumped down and sprinted at Jesse.

But the warrior lost his chance.  As Jesse began to recover from the pain, his eyes painfully looked over to his left.  As they widened, he felt a now physical pain collide with his chest and the warriors kick sent him scraping the ground.  He gripped his robe around his stomach as he opened his eyes and looked at Jack.  He was desperately dodging both sword and arrow.

 "JACK!" Jesse yelled painfully, "JACK!  THEY'RE NOT WIZARDS AT ALL!"

Jack dodged a swing of the sword and quickly looked at Jesse in confusion, "What?!" Another arrow barely missed him, as he took up fighting again.

Jesse clenched his fist, as a thick layer of wood and thorns covered his arm.  He threw it upwards at the warrior as the warrior's scimitar came down.  A large crack was heard as they collided, and both pushed at each other.

 "JACK…they don't have…any mana at all!"  The warrior turned his scimitar, and shoved Jesse's arm out of the way.  He tried to bring it around again and cut him down the middle, but Jesse rolled with his arm.  He focused on his other arm, and another thick layer of thorn and wood formed.  "That's why we can't sense anything!" The warrior swung his sword and Jesse deflected it, and the cycle continued, "They're using…ARTIFACTS!"

Everything seemed to freeze at the moment, even the woman was still holding on to one of her arrows with the wire pulled backwards.

 "They know our secret," She said to her companion, "What should we do?"

He smiled, "Keep doing what you have been doing," He put his hands behind his back, "But…." When he brought them back out, they were covered with large molten rock, in the shape of hands.  They were inversely proportional to the rest of his body, as he created a fist with both hands, "I'll have to join I guess." 

Tay had already chewed down her fingernails, and would have gotten her toenails if possible.  Instead, she gnawed violently on the collar of her shirt.  The little girl, sitting across from her, patiently kicked rocks on the ground.

 "They need help," Tay mumbled.

 "They'll be fine," The little girl added.

 "They can't even walk properly."

 "That has nothing to do with it."

 "Jack's too dumb and Jesse's too ignorant."

 "I don't know about that."

A large crashing sound made them jump.  They looked into the rubble to see a pillar of smoke rising above the remains of the city.  Both of the girl's eyes widened, and looked at each other.  They gulped.

As one of the warriors scimitars came down, Jack caught his wrist.  He held it for a minute, before he swung under his arm, and elbowed him right in the stomach.  The warrior staggered for a while, but quickly regained his balance.  Also quick, was Jack.  No sooner than he recovered than Jack resumed his attack.  His blows backed his mana, not to mention his speed, the warrior had no time to recover with each punch.  But as he kept getting pushed backwards, another hiss of an arrow stopped him completely.  Jack had been hit again, this time, in the other shoulder.  The warrior quickly recovered and slammed Jack in the jaw with the hilt of his sword, sending him careening across the ground.

 "JACK!" Jesse yelled.  He ran to help him, but saw that the thinner man, their leader, and leaped into the air, and had his hands clasped together.  Jesse was able to dodge his swing, but the explosion that resulted from the gigantic gauntlets sent him skidding across the ground as well.  As he struggled to get onto one arm, a ball of heat, rather, an artifact, impacted the ground several yards away from his body.  He is once again sent flying, this time, landing on boulder at the forest's edge.  He painfully opens his eyes…and views his salvation.

Another arrow hissed through the air, missing Jack's thrashing leg.  As he rips out the second arrow from his body, his eyes glow a burning red.  He screams as he jumps to his face, sending a massive shockwave around his body.  He turns to see the warrior hurling another explosive artifact at him.  Jack, his eyes still red, instantaneously grabbed a nearby rock, and flung it at the artifact.  They collided in mid-air, creating a massive explosion.  The warrior shielded his eyes from the explosion, Jack sustained it.  But another arrow ripped through his flesh, and his left arm was now hit.  Jack looked in pain down at his arm, and a fireball began to grow in his right hand.  He flung himself around.

 "KNOCK IT OFF YOU BITCH!" He yelled as he hurled the fireball at the woman.  She stopped pulling her bow back at the oncoming fireball.  She leaped backwards as the ball impacted the ground below her.

Jack, from his view, looked as if he got her.  But from the black smoke, she flew out of the smoke.  With a gigantic metallic sail almost, Jack furrowed his brow to learn she had a backup plan.

Jesse, meanwhile, looked down at the large rock.  Then looked behind him to see that the warrior was charging.  Jesse quickly reached down behind the rock…and grabbed a small piece of mold and threw it at the warrior.

In mid swing, the warrior hesitated as the mold landed, and stuck, to his chest.  He looked down at his chest, then back at Jesse, who was concentrating on the mold.  The warrior smiled, and brought his sword back a little farther.  Then stopped.  He couldn't move, his upper body was becoming heavy.  He looked down again, and noticed that the mold was getting larger.  Soon, it was almost as if it was alive, as it bubbled its way up his arm.  But it didn't stop there, it engulfed his hand, and the entire sword, then it moved downwards, wrapping around his waist, legs and feet.  Not long after, his entire body was covered in a mold almost alive.  Then it stopped.  The mold, as quickly as it covered his body, died away.  Not without taking the warriors armor, sword, and other artifacts hidden on his body.  Left with nothing but his trunks, and frightened at his now vulnerable state, he covered himself, and ran off into the woods.  Jesse watched with amusement, until a shadow loomed over his position.  He barely dodged the earth shattering punch by the thinner man.

The pale woman continued to hover over Jack's position, pelting him with arrows while he fended off the brute strength of the warrior.  However, Jack was doing a lot better than before.  In fact, to the woman, it looked like Jack wasn't even trying to arrow, they missed him naturally.  She cursed herself, as she readied another arrow.

Jack's eyes continued to burn with that intense red flare, as he resorted to swatting the sword away instead of dodging it.  Although certainly not stronger than the warrior, he soon used speed and agility to strike the sword at the right time.  As arrows whizzed by his constantly moving body, he saw his opportunity.  As the warrior's scimitar came down, Jack threw his hand up, catching the warrior in the wrist, stopping both arm and stopped.  With his other arm, Jack thrust it forward into the breast plate of the warrior, and just as quickly ripped it out.  The warrior staggered backwards, and looked at the gaping hole in his armor.  He brushed, what appeared to be, a shattered golden wheel, with five stones each one color of mana.  The warrior looked up at Jack and growled, only to see that Jack's eyes had reverted back to normal, and he was bouncing a sphere in his hand.  The sphere had a tiny golden sundial in one place, and all around its edge were small crevices linking small holes to other holes.

 "You should be ashamed of yourself, pretending to be wizards." The warrior's face scrunched in fear, as the sphere in Jack's hand began to glow red, "You pussy." He flung the now ball of heat at the warrior, who effortlessly tried to run the in the other direction, in exploded on his backside, sending him screaming through the air.  His sword, a scimitar, flipped several times in the air, before sticking the sword end straight into the ground.  As Jack smiled to himself, another arrow hissed by him, this time, catching his right cheek.  He smacked his face as his eyes grew red with fury, "GOD YOU'RE ANNOYING!" He screamed, as he thrust his hand outwards and created a half-fist.  The woman, already preparing another arrow, and suddenly been jerked.  The arrow went flying into the distance, as she looked up at her metal sail.  She then noticed, it was getting quite warmer.  Her eyes grew with fear as she realized that her sail had begun to vibrate uncontrollably, and also appeared to be melting.  Jack thrust his hand even further towards the woman, yelling, "DETONATE!"

With that, the sail exploded in a spray of fire, as the woman screamed the whole trip to the ground, and landed with a loud thud.  The screaming stopped, coincidentally.

Jesse, not much further away, had resorted to fist fighting.  In a very sloppy boxer stance, most likely taught by Jack, his mind race thoroughly.

_ "Okay, left, right, left, right, God please don't let me trip."_ His opponent, also in a boxer like stance, his sloppy for the large gauntlets on his hands, paced around Jesse impatiently.  _"Concentrate Jesse, concentrate.  Opening…opening…who am I trying to kid, I have no idea what an opening would be."_ Jesse yelled as he started.  In a boxer like attack, began to periodically jab the large gauntlets, crunching them little-by-little, the man, was actually quite surprised by how much he was being pushed back.

_ "Good…good…keep him on the defensive and, uh oh," _He thought as he saw the large right hand raised high and far behind him, _"Okay, calm down, keep your left arm up, and…"_

WHAM!

Jesse was sent careening off the ground several times, actually colliding into a lone piece of stone.  When he stopped, he grabbed his left arm and began to thrash on the ground.

 "Wow!" He said aloud.  "That was stupid!"

The same looming shadow appeared above his head, as he looked up to the clasped hands ready to crush his skull…neck and chest.  Jesse felt a hand grab the hood of his robe, and yank him backwards.  This smash sent more debris into the air, and actually create a small crater in the ground.

Jack and Jesse somersaulted away from the man, Jack jumping to a fighting stance, Jesse rolling onto his right side, still grabbing his arm.

 "Ya'll right Jess?!" Jack yelled.

 "Can't…feel…left arm!" Jesse painfully hissed out.  Jack scrunched his face in sympathy.  He then noticed the man, his face covered with sweat, and his hands planted in the ground.  He was furious, completely ignoring all signs of exhaustion he was showing.  He ripped his hands out of the ground, and held them in a way that seemed like those were his actual hands.

 "You think you've won, don't you?" He growled.  Jack and Jesse looked at each other, then shrugged.  "Funny, real funny.  But you won't find it very funny after I'm through with you!" Jack and Jesse didn't know what he was talking about, until they saw what was in his hands.  Yet another artifact, also inproportional to the rest of his body, minus the hands, had appeared.  In his right hand, was a large silver warhammer.  With those gauntlets, he held it like it was nothing, as he swung it around with that hand, and brought it down to the other hand.  With both hands, he held it in a fighting and was about ready to charge.

 "You punks should be so lucky!  I only use it for emergencies you know!" Jack seemed a little bedazzled, "Do you know how LONG it took me to get this?!  For that matter how much it COST?!  This thing isn't of this plane you know…."  Both Jesse and Jack became stunned for a while.  Jack snapped out it, and saw the scimitar sticking out of the ground.  He rushed to pick it up, and returned to Jesse's side.

 "Ha!  Do you really think that puny sword can beat, not only a Loxodon Warhammer, but a pair of Vulshok Gauntlets as well.  I'd love to see you try."

Jack's stern face turn to a puzzled look, he looked at the sword, twirled it, caught it again.  And looked at the man.  With the same weird look, he winded back on one leg, ALL the way back.

 "Are you going to throw it at me?!  YOU REALLY ARE STUPID AREN'T YOU?!"

With tremendous force, Jack DID throw the sword at him.  As the man placed up his left arm to block it, a sneer appeared on Jack's face.  
 "Let's put some oomph into it, SHRAPNEL BLAST!" He yelled quickly, thrusting his hand out.  Right before the sword impacted the gauntlet, it exploded, with much more force than the sail did.  As the dust from the surrounding ground cleared, Jesse gasped in shock.

 "Jack look!" He yelled, through the pain.  The man was still standing there, his left arm covering his face.  "He's still…"

 "Not for long," Jack interrupted, still sneering.  Indeed, Jesse noticed something different about the man.  He was trembling feverishly, and Jesse swore he heard a faint whimpering.  His right hand, holding the warhammer, wearily let go of it, making a heavy metallic thud as it hit the ground.  His right arm fell limp, just as his left arm was about to.  When it did dropped, it revealed his face, a mess of blood and large to medium steel slivers protruding all over.  In a comical/morbid sense, the shrapnel had his mouth pinned to a very wide grin.

 "Ya…you…" He didn't even get out the last part as he collapsed to his knees, then his body followed.  Jack stood there, him and Jesse both watching the lifeless body carefully.  Then Jack dropped to his knees, his legs sprawled out behind him, and panting heavily.  Jesse also began to feel the relief of the victory, as he too began to breathe heavily.  They both looked at each other and smiled, then laughed.  Jesse to a deep chested, heavily sustain laugh, and Jack to a full-blown cackle.  This was stopped immediately.

 "YOU BASTARDS!" A semi-familiar voice called from their left.  They looked over to the pale woman, her clothes tattered, her pale face now a mess of dirt and blood, her left hand, covering a gaping wound in her stomach, and in her right hand a steadily glowing red sphere.

 "Jack…."

 "Don't even bother, I can't move my legs."

 "DIE BOTH OF YOU!" She yelled with tremendous anger and she flung the ball straight at them.  But in mid-air, the sphere lost it's glow and dissembled itself in mid-flight.  The pieces landed among Jack and Jesse, who were sheltering themselves for the expected blast.  They slowly opened their eyes to see the tiny pieces scattered among them.  They blinked twice, looked up to the woman, whose face was focused on something behind them, then looked behind them.

 "TAY!" They yelled.

She smiled cockily, then looked down to her left, "See?  I told you they would get themselves killed without me."  The little girl poked her head from behind a pile of rubble, and looked over at Jesse, blushing.

Jack and Jesse smiled, and both of them flopped on the ground, "Thank God!" They yelled.

 "That's…not…POSSIBLE!" The woman yelled, only for her body to be thrust backwards as she flinched violently.  When she opened her eyes, her body was covered with a glowing, neon green strands.

 "Coral Net," Tay told her as she lowered her hand, "Dangerous to creatures summoned through white and green mana, harmless to you." The woman struggled her upper body to break free, "Course, that doesn't mean you can barely move."

The woman screamed in frustration, as she lost her balance and tumbled backwards down the hill.  As she hit the bottom, she wearily climbed to her feet, and sprinted off towards the woods, nearly falling down several times on the way.

As Tay walked over to the boys, the girl hiding behind her, Jack looked up at her and smiled.

 "I guess I owe you…."

POW!

He didn't even finish as she kicked him hard in the shoulder.

 "Jerk." She said, struggling to hold her tears, "That's for being a jerk and going off without me."

 "Ow…." He said.

The woman continued to stumble blindly through the woods, her hair and clothes getting caught up in branches.  One large branch managed to snag the net, as she violently ripped through it  and continued to ran, the net shriveling up and disintegrating.  She continues to grasp her stomach as she ran full sprint through the woods.  Finally, she could run no more.  She slowed very quickly to a walk, and leaned against a tree, then forcefully threw her back against it, and sat down.  As she sat there, she panted heavily for a while, before a pain shot through her and she grasped her stomach.

 "I…I'll kill them…kill…damn them…." She said as she gripped harder.  The pain subsided, as she loosened her grip.  "Jack…Jesse…and…and…Tay…damn them all.  They will pay."

 "Oh is that so?" A sinister voice came from her side.  She whirled up to a weak fighting stance.

 "Who's there?!" She yelled.  There was no answer, only the hiss of mana and a quick death as her life energy was literally sucked from her body.

 "Where do you hurt Jack?" Tay asked him.

 "Will you kiss it?" He asked.

 "With the back of my hand, yes."

Jack was being helped up by Tay, while Jesse was already in an upright position, the little girl holding his arm.  His breath's had considerably slowed down, but his left arm was still in a great deal of pain.

 "Easy on the shoulder kid," he said as the girl tried to position him comfortably.

The girl, looking like she was about to explode like one of those spheres, said, "Kayla…."

Jesse opened his eyes and looked at her curiously, "Huh?"

 "Kayla…my name is…Kayla." She said looking away from him and blushing.

Jesse blinked a couple times, then began to chuckle.

 "What?" Kayla asked.  This only made Jesse laugh even harder as he reared backwards to a loud bellow.  "What?!  What's so funny?!" She screamed in rage.  She had let him drop, landing on his left side.  There was a quick 'ow' before Jesse returned to his hysterical laughter.

 "YOU…YOU JERK!  YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ASKED!" She screamed yet again as Jack and Tay just watched them nervously.  Then they notice two figures coming out of the woods.

 "Sarah!" They yelled, which was all that was needed to get Jesse to stop.  His head shot up, and indeed, Sarah was standing there, with a fairly uncaring Drake next to her.  Jesse struggled to sit upright again, as another pain shot through his left side.  He flinched, and nearly fell on his face.  He struggled to get up, but for some reason the pain was too much.  Then a gentle force pushed him up and Sarah looked him right in the face.

 "Are you alright Jesse?" She asked, "What happened here?"

Jesse's turn to redden, "N-nothing….just…some trouble makers, th-that's all…."

 "Here, let me help you.  You'll be fine in a jiffy." She said smiling, as she gently rolled up his sleeve and began to apply her healing powers.  While she concentrated on his wounds, he concentrated on her.  He just couldn't, he couldn't give up on her, just now at least.

 "S-Sarah…." He said.

She stopped and looked at him, "Yes?"  
  
Just because he wouldn't give up on her, doesn't make him a coward, "N-nothing…nevermind."

She smiled, "Okay." And continued to heal him.

Jack and Tay both looked at him with disappointment, as he looked at them, then looked away from all of them.

Several days later, it went on that there were survivors among the rubble.  Whether hidden beneath crushed stones, or tucked safely away in hidden basements, there were survivors.  The following days passing, the wounded were healed, the dead were buried and mourned, and at their leave, the town celebrated.

 "While it is true, that most of the village was destroyed, and we lost many lives, that we do have hope for the future." The Town Elder spoke with the survivors, "In defeating and driving off those rogues, it is safe to say this town is protected  for a good while.  There aren't many occurrences around these parts, so it IS safe to say we are going to be here a little while longer."

There was a cheer through the crowd, as the apprentices, now cleaned up, clothes and all, watched on from the hilltop above the town.

 "Cliché, even for us," Jack noted as he looked at the others.

 "Let's get going," Drake said, impatiently, "I'd rather not hang around here much longer."

 "Ditto, there's a hell of a lot more I got to see." Tay said joyfully, as they trudged down the other side of the hill, Jesse continued to look off into the distance.  He sighed and turned around.  A snap of a twig stopped him, as he looked back and saw Kayla running up the hill.  She stopped on a dime as her hands went to her knees and began to pant heavily.

 "Hey Kayla.  What can I do for you?  Hey now, we already told you you can't come with us."   
She looked up smiled and shook her head, "No, I'm over that now, just a present for you."

He raised his eyebrows in slight astonishment, she reached into her pocket and handed him a small, poorly wrapped gift box.  He took it, and gazed over it a little.

 "Don't open it yet, just get a little further away before you do, okay?" She said, still smiling, but also a slight dew appeared her eyes, Jesse noticed.  She turned around and ran back towards her town.  Jesse blinked a couple times, looking down at the box.

 "HEY JESSE!  GET YOU ASS OVER HERE!" He heard Jack's meticulous voice call to him.  He jogged down the mountain, hiding his present in his sleeve.

As they continued downwards, Jack and Tay talking feverishly, Drake taking lead, social as usual, and Sarah not far behind.  Curiously, Jesse secretly took out his present and carefully opened it up.  Inside, was a note, and a fairly long, off-white ribbon.  He looked at the ribbon, then at the note.

 'Jesse, thank you for rescuing me and my mom.  I know it isn't much, and I can't think of a world what you would do with this, but I'm sure you'll find something of good use for it.  Your friend, Kayla.'

_"Well, that's sweet,"_ Jesse thought to himself, _"But what am I going to do with a…"_ He stopped in mid-thought and looked at Sarah, her long hair hanging loose around her back.  He smiled to himself, "Hey Sarah, can you come here a minute?"

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End Chapter


	10. Colors: A Prelude to Death, Anger

Magic: The Gathering and all its trademark cards and colors are property of Wizards of the Coast

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Colors: A Prelude to Death-

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An ear piercing screech echoed throughout the top of a large range of mountains.  A loud sound, like that of a slow, yet harsh, flap, followed close suit.  The slow, steady gush of wind continued a steady pace above the very peaks of the clouds and mountains.  One more gush of wind filled the air, then silence.  The clouds not far in the air remained still…for a second.  In a flash, they were tore apart, as a large creature went into a nose-dive at an angle to the mountain.  Its skin was that of bluish-green scales, an extensive wingspan that was pressed against its back, a long, slinking tail following close behind it, and two hind-legs which appeared not to have been used very much, as they barely seemed as if they were good enough to support it's body.  Its eyes were that of a cloudy red, and jaw gaping open with rows of large teeth.  It had a brief second to see its prey, standing on a small ledge gazing up at it with fear.  It let out another screech, as its mouth closed down on the rocky slopes.  Luckily, it missed.

Jesse slammed Sarah hard against the mountain wall to avoid the oncoming creature, so hard that he had to make sure he didn't hurt her.  Lucky she let out a scream of terror as the extensive tail slithered past them, catching a corner of the ledge sending large chunks of rock upwards.  Immediately they broke away from the wall, as they chased Drake and the others on the winding path leading upwards to the mountain's top.  By the time they caught up, the creature had already flown higher, and circled around in front of them.

 "On the wall!" Drake yelled as he grabbed Jack and Tay and threw them on the wall, covering them.  The creature barely missed them again, its large mouth loudly snapping inches from their backsides.  Jack and Tay pushed themselves, and Drake from the wall, and stared at the creature as its wings flapped several times as it slowly turned back to face them.

 "What the hell is a dragon doing here?!" Jack yelled angrily.

 "It isn't a dragon dumbass, it's a drake!  It's a species similar to the dragon except it's smaller and…!"

A fireball flared it Jack's hand, "It begins with a d, so it's a dragon in my book!" He flung the ball at the drake, in hoping of hitting it.  As the drake turned around it retracted its right wing, causing it the slowly plummet for a little bit, as the fireball flew directly over its underside.  Its wing extended again, as it caught itself and prepared for another pass.

 "DAMN!" Jack yelled.

Drake wasn't surprised.  He watched its movements, and found an opportunity.  It lost its balance to avoid that attack, there was an opening.  Drake's eyes narrowed as he sprinted towards the edge of the mountain.

 "DRAKE!  WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He heard Tay's voice scream from behind him.  Sarah also screamed out his name, as the drake flew by, taking one snap at them as if it was a warning.  Drake then launched himself from the edge of the cliff, and got caught between where the wing and body met.  Although slightly winded, he knew he had to hang on for dear life.  He slowly opened his eyes against the pounding wind and saw the drake was looking him right in the eye.  His brow furrowed, and the drake screamed.  It then curved slightly up in its path, then straight down, straight straight down.

Drake, either of them, could keep their eyes open as the wind rushed past them in a fury.  Drake's fingernails dug deep into the drake's hide, as the last remaining clouds parted and the extensive forest down below flew up at them.  At the last moment, the drake pulled up in its path, avoiding certain death for it.  As it flapped its huge wings in an attempt to gain altitude, it looked over to its right, and saw that the human parasite was no longer clinging to it.  It screeched again, as it traveled above the first part of the clouds, in search of the rest of its prey.  With its neck as stiff as it is, it never noticed Drake impossibly climbing its underbelly to the other side.  As it straightened out, Drake caught his opportunity as he grabbed the corner of its left wing, and flipped himself up onto its backside.  As knee and hand clung for dear life, he slowly rose to his feet, careful not to lose his balance.  As he steadied himself between two folds of scales ideally for foot holders against the raging wind, he spread his arms wide as his mana began to flare.  But before anything happened, he realized he was too close to the mountain side to try anything.  He slipped a foot out and slammed it hard on the back of the drake.  Although not causing tremendous pain, it caught its attention as it twirled its head back, and stared Drake right in the eye.  It let out another screech as it retracted its wings and began to spin in the air, Drake returning to the fetal position.

The drake however didn't realize where it was, as it spun in the air its body clipped the side of the mountain with tremendous force, not far from the others.  Once again, Sarah yelled out Drake's name again as the drake, reeling in pain, straightened itself out and began whelping in pain.

Drake, on the other hand, held the urge to purge his guts out on the back of this beast, and instead rose to his feet.  He spread his arms wide again as his mana flared outwards.  Thunder rolled across the sky, as it darkened.  With what little clouds remained shining, broke apart as a thick, smoldering chunk of what appeared to be black soot, fell from the sky.  The thing is, it didn't fly into the drake, the drake flew into it.  As the spell impacted the back of the drake's neck, it exploded in a quick burst of flame, tearing a gaping hole in its neck.  It tried to let out a screech, but all that came was a low, whining sound.  But it wasn't about to give up, it painfully turned around, aiming straight for the mountainside, hoping to crush this human and the others along the rocky slopes.

Tay, the first to noticed, yelled for everyone to move, as they sprinted up the winding path.  The drake tried to change its course in mid-flight, but was overcome by pain, and smashed head-on into the rocky slope.  The sound of bone shattering and the spray of stones, large and small, covered the screams of Sarah, as she was unnoticeably protected by Jesse.  Time seemed to slow down as its limp body fell backwards, plummeting itself down to the ground.  Sarah and the others raced to the gap where the drake had hit, and watched it bounced along the side of the mountain.  Tears swelled in her eyes as she quietly called out "Drake." 

 "What do you want?" He said callously from beside them, standing cockily on a jagged rock on the ledge's edge.  Everyone froze for a minute, staring blankly at Drake's figure.  His brow furrowed, as he yelled, "What the hell are you looking at?" He jerked his body away from them, which proved to be a bad idea.  The jagged rock he stood on wasn't solid, as it gave way underneath his feet, catching him off-guard and sending him plummeting down the edge.  Everyone rushed to the edge in an attempt to save him, but they only caught a glimpse of him falling Earth-ward.  Sarah remained at the edge, while the others slowly stood up behind her, and looked at each other nervously.

 "Do you think he's…?" Jack said cautiously.  They gave each other a morbid stare, before the flutter of wings stirred them again.  Immediately, Jack summoned two fireballs, one in each hand, and feverishly looked everywhere in the air.  Jesse and Tay also went to a fighting stance, as they prepared for another attack.  Sarah, however, continued to look down the slopes, for any sign of anything.  There it was.

 "Look!" She yelled out, as the others quickly rushed to the edge and looked downwards.  Below, hidden by the clouds, a darkened figure, undoubtedly having a wingspan, slowly rose up towards them.  Jack raised one of his hands in the air, expecting the same monstrosity from before.  But Sarah got first glimpse.

 "JACK DON'T!" She yelled as the figure broke the clouds.  It was a pegasus, snow-white with a large wing-span for such a magnificent creature.  And in its jaws, by the back of his collar, was Drake, not looking too pleased.  It jerkily rose up to the other's position, causing Drake to flop around violently, before it flung him hard at the others, slamming him into the ground.  The pegasus then clomped its way onto the ledge, standing next to Sarah.

 "You should be so lucky that she has been practicing summoning over the past four months," Tay told Drake, as he stood up, brushing himself off, "You'd probably be a smear on the ground by now if it wasn't for her."

Whether this was what broke the straw on the camel's back, no one knows.  All they remember is Sarah, fist clenched stomped straight up to Drake's face…and smacked him…hard.  Everything went silent for a moment, even Drake's eyes bulging from his skull.  Sarah continued to glare Drake in the face, as she turned around and stomped up the ledge, the Pegasus following close behind.

As she disappeared out of view, Drake remained in that position of utter shock, as Jesse and the others watched Sarah go.  Tay was the first to snap out of it, as she gave Drake a nervous stare of sympathy while she walked by him. 

Jesse didn't even bother to look at Drake, he had his own reasons to avoid him.  Jack however, as he walked by, turned around and raised his arm to give Drake a pat on the shoulder, but shook his head, and walked past him with the others.  Drake remained that way for a little while, before his eyes reverted to normal, and, although maintaining his hardened look, followed the others cautiously.

Further ways up the mountain, everyone maintain the position they had left several hours ago, except  Jack, Jesse, and Tay were walking in a huddled group.

 "Does anyone know what happened back there?" Jack whispered to the other two.

 "Beats the hell out of me, long as I've known Sarah, she never once even THOUGHT about hitting someone." Tay replied.

 "Lover's quarrel I guess." Fortunately for Jack, he was on the inside, as Jesse slammed him hard against the mountain, actually creating an indent of his body in the rocks.  But they continued without him, Tay nervously looking back at Jack, then at Jesse.

 "I guess shutting up is a good idea now.  Since I'm on the edge."

 "That would be good, yes." Jesse replied.

Jack pulled himself out of the rocks, looking at the indent his body made.  He reached up and broke up some rock around the upper arm portion, giving his imprint large muscles.  He stopped when Drake walked past him, as he looked at him then jogged up to his position.

 "So, what happened man?"

Another imprint of Jack's body made it on the cliff's base.

Not much farther away from that, Sarah had reached the end of the slope, Jesse and Tay catching up, Drake and Jack far behind them.

As Jesse was feet away from her, he saw her cradle the pegasus' head and talk to it.  When she let go, the pegasus whinnied, and flew off the cliff around to the other side of the mountain.  Jesse stepped up next to her, "Where's it going?"

Sarah snapped out of her daze, startling her, "O-Oh…I, just sent her to see if the path continues, that's all." She quickly said, before turning away from him and looking down.

As Jack and Drake came closer, Jack called out, "Hey guys, why're we stopped?"

 "Scouting.  The path ends here, and Sarah sent the pegasus out to see if there was any other path." Tay replied.

 "The horse with wings?" Jack asked curiously.

Tay just rubbed the bridge of her nose, then she bent down and began looking at the ground, "Help me find a rock to throw at him Jesse."

Jesse smiled, she would throw it at him, but would probably never hit him.  But the smile faded as he glanced over at Sarah, whose head was turned away from him, but could tell she was looking out of the corner of her eye to the far back.  His face dropped, and, not bearing to watch her, turned his back to her.

Some good ten or twenty minutes passed before the pegasus returned from its flight.  Although not able to make direct conversation with the pegasus, she was able to ask yes and no questions to get a rough estimate of where the path started up again.  As she finished, she began to brush the pegasus' mane.

 "Well," she said, without even looking behind her, "it seems, that there is no road leading to anywhere near the entrance."

 "What?" Everyone asked surprisingly.

 "This is apparently where the path ends.  But unfortunately…that also means…."

 "We're on the wrong mountain." Drake said, fairly upset at that.

 "No no," Sarah jumped in, "The entrance to the caverns is on this mountain, it's just that we…."

Everyone's eyes went a little wide, then they all looked up the steep mountainside, still very far away from the top.  "Aw crap…" Everyone except Drake and Sarah said at once.

Sarah patted the pegasus' head, and then jumped onto the back of the pegasus, her legs straddling the point where the wings and body meet.  She looked at the group and smiled, "Come on Tay, you're first."

 "Me?" She asked, as she pointed to herself.  As she walked past the men, all looking at her, she smiled nervously.  When she got to the pegasus, she faked a jump, then leaped onto the back.  The pegasus whinnied a bit, and began to step backwards.  Tay clutched tightly onto the skin of the pegasus as her knees dug into its back.  The pegasus' knees buckled a little, but stood up fairly quickly, as it looked back to Sarah with its big brown eyes.  Sarah looked back at the pegasus, and reached over and rubbed its cheek.  The pegasus whinnied again, as it looked up the mountain, and was about ready to jump.

 "Hold on," She told it, as she looked at the men, "I…I really hate to do this to you…but…."

The men all looked at her nervously.

 "TELL ME AGAIN WHY WE'RE DOING THIS!" Jack screamed at the top of his lungs.  It still was barely enough to be heard over the roaring wind blowing over his body, as he clung to dear life to the side of the mountain.  Far from the ledge where they set off, much less the ground.

 "For the hundredth time Jack!" Jesse yelled back as he dug his face into the mountain to avoid the wind, "The pegasus was barely able to carry Tay and Sarah!  It wouldn't have gotten very far with any of us on it!" He poked his head out again, and began to climb further.

Jack continued to look up, as he muttered under his breath, "That still doesn't mean she should have smacked me like that…." Implying the slightly red, slightly swelled region around his cheek.

 "No, it wasn't," Jesse said callously, "But calling Tay's breasts '50 pound sandbags,' I believe, is suitable enough for one." And he continued to climb. 

Drake remained quiet throughout the bickering, he never was one to get into these things.

 "We're getting closer!  It's not that far now!" Jesse yelled.

 "THAT'S WHAT YOU SAID AN HOUR AGO!" Jack screamed.

 "Would you stop complaining?!" Jesse yelled, pissed off, "It isn't going to help us any, so why the hell do you keep yammering?!"

 "It's proof that I'm alive!  Which I can't say will be for much longer!" He yelled back, looking straight up at Jesse.

Jesse sighed, and looked up the mountain, _"How DID we get ourselves into this?"_

Two weeks ago, in a town quite similar to the one Jesse and Jack rescued from those rogues four months ago, the group had walked into another case of localized terror.  The villagers weren't much helpful, most of them were scared out of their wits.  What little information they had acquired at first, was only as significant to them as "She'll kill us all", "Nobody can touch her", and "There's no point talking about it".  Finally, after about five or so days of exploring, questioning, and other detective-type solving, they had perchance came across a middle-aged farmer, with his six year-old daughter.

 "I am sorry," the farmer told the apprentices, "but telling you where she was wouldn't do any good for us all.  She'd only kill you, then attack the town again for trying to destroy her. And we don't have enough resources to rebuild this town again."

There was a deep sigh, as the farmer turned away from them, placing his hand on his daughter's back and gently pushing her with him.  

As they walked away, the girl looked up to her father and asked, "Daddy?  Are they talking about the woman who lives on Mount Kand?"

The farmer stopped dead in his tracks and whirled around.  The five were gone, but he looked around to make sure they were out of earshot.  When he was satisfied, he turned back around, giving his daughter a little harder push, saying, "I thought I told you not to say that out loud."

 "I'm sorry Daddy…." The little girl said sorrowfully.

A battered hand reached overtop a ledge.  It searched around nervously, before digging it's fingernail into the rocks and hoisted its body upward.  Jesse's top half collapsed on the ledge as he gasped for air.  As he caught his breath, his face went into that of absolute shock.  He looked down behind him and yelled furiously, "JACK!"

 "Sorry!" Was his response.  Jesse glared at him as another hand crowned the top of the ledge, and Jack hoisted himself upwards.  When he came to a position where he wouldn't fall back down, his lay down, arms spread wide.  "Ain't my fault your butt was in my way."

Before Jesse could say anything, another voice broke them up.

 "Do you two mind?" Said rather coldly.  Jesse and Jack quickly looked at each other and scooted over as Drake's head popped up and he too rested on the ledge, most of his bottom half dangling with the Jack's and Jesse's.  There was a long silence, only the deep, heavy breathing of the climbers could be heard.

 "What took you so long?" A voice broke the silence.  They looked up to see Tay, standing overtop of them with her arms crossed, and Sarah, who sat on the ground, watching them with a smile.

 "Did you guys have fun?" She asked them politely.  Drake shot her a glare, Jack collapsed again, and Jesse…well, he couldn't help but smile too.  He looked over and noticed Drake heaving himself to his feet, brushing off the dust and dirt on his pants.  Jesse quickly did the same, being sure to do it a little bit faster too.  Jack just laid their, exhausted.  Tay glared down at him as he continue to act like he was unconscious.  Finally, her patience broke.

 "Dammit Jack, quit fooling arou-AAAHHH!" She screamed as she slipped on a smooth stone, sending her tumbling behind Jack.  His head quickly shot up too, as he was dragged down with her, his hands catching against the ledge.  The screams of both of them reverberated through the mountains as the Sarah, Drake, and Jesse rushed to their aid.  Jack and Drake each immediately grabbed an arm and lifted upwards, Sarah trying to contribute by grabbing Jack's armor as he came above the ledge.  As both he and Tay were thrown from their predicament, Drake, Sarah and Jesse collapsed with Tay and Jack.  Once again, the only sound heard was the heavy panting of all five, until Tay slowly got to her knees and crawled overtop of Jack, her hair hiding his face, and she collapsed on him.

 "God I hate you…." Was what she said after several seconds of more silence.

 "Say…considering I reluctantly saved you, I assume you owe me a favor." Jack said cockily.  There was a quick, muffled thud as Tay rolled off of him onto her back, and Jack began cringing in pain.

 "Not on your life." She said after a few more heavy breaths.  As the panting died down, no one wanted to move for a while.  They just lay there, soon falling asleep.

They awoke several hours later, barely recollecting the purpose behind this impossible climb.  As soon as everyone was awake, they rested for yet another hour, for resting's sake, and they continued.  At that time, an odd thing occurred.  No one talked, not even Jack.  What made it odd, to them at least, was the lack of that eerie awkward feeling that was quite common among them.  It was more of a peaceful silence, where everyone was just soaking in the comfort of each other's company.  Even Drake's "aura" had a less sinister feel to it, and he himself even seemed more relaxed.

Night had fallen, and Jack was given point to light the way, conjuring a small fireball in his palm to create some light.  The path had apparently thinned, as far as the five could tell.  Their suspicions were corrected when they soon had to walk one right behind the other, soon pressing their stomachs against the wall.  Finally, after a good two hours of quiet, Jack broke the silence.

 "Are we there yet?" He whined.

 "As much as I hate to say this, I have to agree with him." Tay added.

 "I don't understand," Sarah said nervously, "I could have sworn that the pegasus would have at least brought me and Tay nearer to the entrance than this."

 "Do I need to remind everyone my opinion of horses?" Jack butted in.

 "No, we don't." Everyone quickly replied.

 "I don't know about anyone else, but I feel as if we've been going around in circles." Jesse said nervously.

 "Now that's just silly," Tay responded, "The path clearly had an upward slope the entire time we've been on it.  It would be impossible for it to be…."

 "I see a ledge!" Jack yelled, squinting in the darkness.  The sudden burst made Tay yelp, almost falling back off the edge.  A quick and panicked grab of some rocks projecting from the side of the mountain saved her.

 "Jack!" Sarah hissed, "You scared Tay, she almost fell down!"

 "Oh," Jack said despondently, he looked as far back as he could and yelled, "You okay Tay?!"

There was no answer, only a slight mumbling as Tay buried her head on the mountain edge.

 "What?!" He asked.

Jesse, following right behind Tay looked past her to Jack, yelling, "It involves some really bad derogatory comments of your mom Jack, don't push it."

A few minutes of steady shuffling, and the group had made it safely to the large ledge projecting from the mountainside.  Everyone quickly stopped to catch their breath, Jack holding the fireball higher for more area for the light to reach.  As the breathing slowed, and everyone looked up and smiled at each other, excluding Drake, they noticed something odd.

 "Uh…where's the cave?" Jack asked nervously.

Jack held the fireball up a little higher, and the five began to scour the mountain side.  Indeed, this was not the ledge that the cave was situated on.  In fact….

 "Does anyone else notice something…peculiar about this place?" Tay asked.

They walked the mountain side to where the ledge diverted into a path, eventually leading to a very narrow walkway heading up the mountain.  Everyone looked upwards at the mountain.  Jack through the fireball up the slope.  As the darkness quickly overcame them, the light from the traveling fireball went up for a good ways until they couldn't see it no more.  Jack created another fireball, as the light revealed their faces.

 "Well…if I may remember correctly, right now we're…." Tay began exclaiming nervously until Drake came in.

 "In the exact same place we were before." He said rather coldly.  Silence fell over the group once again, as Sarah fell to her knees, Tay and Jesse falling to their rear ends.

 "Aw man…." Jack whined.

 "It doesn't make sense." Tay said aloud, "That path had a constant upward slope up the mountain, it's impossible for us o be exactly here we were."

 "It could be a trick," Jesse said, "Like, this is suppose to throw off travelers and stuff."

 "So we contin-GYAH!" Jack yelped as Drake grabbed the arm with the fireball and held to the ground, nearly throwing Jack to the ground.

 "Hardly, these skidmarks are from before." He said as he flung Jack's arm away from him.  Jack glared at Drake as he rubbed his arm.

Sarah's head drooped a little, and sighed, just as Jack and Drake began to argue.

 "What the hell was that for?!"

No answer.

 "Well?!"

Sarah sat up again, and just watched the two through the flickering of the fire, if things got out of hand, Tay, her, or Jesse, depending on who was arguing, would usually break it up.

 "You nearly tore my arm off!"

 "Hardly…."

 "HA!  I'll have you know my shoulder feels a bit sore right now.  That's liability lawsuit buddy!"

 "You really are stupid aren't you?"

 "HEY SHUT UP!"

Sarah closed her eyes, trying to block out their argument.  She hated to listen to them fight.

 "Drake, just apologize to Jack already."

 "Hmph…."

 "Oh is that how you're going to play it?  Well bring it on then!"

 "Jack, now really isn't the time…."

 "Stay out of this Jes!  It's between me and the anti-social here!"

About this time, Sarah had had enough of it.  She began to stand up, placing her hand on the mountain to give her balance.

 "Please, both of you.  We really should be-YAH!" She yelped as she phased through the thick mountain wall.  No one heard her, as Jack continued to threaten Drake, who just stood there and took it, not caring one way or the other, as Tay walked behind Jack and held back his arms.

 "THAT'S ENOUGH JACK!" She yelled.

 "Let me go!  I'll teach this bastard who the hell he's dealing with!  We don't need him!"

 "I beg to differ…!" Tay said through clenched teeth.

Jesse just stood there watching.  This was a common occurrence, Jack blowing his top.  However, there was something missing from the confusion.

 "Hey Sarah, think we should stop them?" He asked, rather plainly.  There was no answer.  "Sarah?" He turned around, Sarah was gone from the glow of the fire.  "Sarah?" He called again, there was no answer.  "Hey guys!  Sarah's gone!"

Jack, whose face had become as red as his hair, growled viciously at Drake, who, surprisingly, was getting rather upset, from what Jesse could tell by the look on his face.  Tay, of course, was still holding Jack back with all her strength.  This all stopped completely when Jesse yelled at them.  There was a slight astonished look on their face, when Sarah's voice broke the silence.

 "I'm here Jesse.  I'm okay." She said somewhat wearily, as her body phased through the side of the mountain.  Jack and Tay's mouth dropped, Drake, per usual, was completely uninterested.  Sarah smiled as her head poked out from the wall, "I'm not sure…but I think I found the entrance."

As they continued through the hidden path concealed by magics, Jack and Drake still had yet to make up.  In fact, the two continued to remain very bitter as Jack's fireball barely lit the hall in front of them.

 "You think you can make it a little brighter in here?" Tay asked rudely.

 "Shut up." Jack hissed at her, "I'm having enough trouble concentrating to keep this thing lit."

 "I suggest you lose the attitude."

 "I'd suggest you lose ten pounds, but that would get rid of the only good part of you."

 "WHY YOU-" Tay yelled, before Sarah stepped in front of her, blocking her path.  Tay's brow furrowed, as she gently pushed Sarah aside and stormed past her.  Sarah watched nervously, as the light around her face began to fade.  Drake walked past her, and she quickly sped up and began walking by his side.  Jesse trailed in the back, the light barely reaching him.

_ "This isn't like me…"_ he thought.  _"Sure…I may have been gloomy back at school…but still."_ He looked up, Sarah still keeping close to Drake.  _"What's wrong with me…?" Was his final thoughts as his head lowered again, as his pace slowed down, and darkness enshrouded him._

They continued walking the hall, as it curved downwards every so often.  After about an hour, they hit a dead-end.

 "Well…what do we do now?" Jack asked despondently.

Tay placed her hand on the wall.  Indeed, it was solid, unlike the entrance to the hallway.

 "We turn back, that's what we do." Drake added.

 "Must you always be so pessimistic?"  Tay asked, shooting him a glare.

Drake grunted, "You must not get it.  Obviously, if the wall to this place was concealed before, the mage would do it again."

 "I don't know…" Sarah said, "She hasn't exactly been following any pattern, except that her traps are completely random.  I don't see her using the same thing twice."

 "Which is exactly why she'd do it again." Drake said, frustrated.

Everyone immediately began to rub their hands on the surface of the walls, till Sarah spoke up.

 "Hey…where's Jesse?" She asked.

As if on cue, his body came through the darkness, "Right here, I was lagging a bit, sorry."

 "Well start lookin'" Jack said agitated, "Superman says we gotta go back until we find a hole in the wall."

 "Superman?" Jesse asked, looking at Drake.  Drake gave him a cold stare, Jesse returning the favor.  But he didn't say anything, and he began to feel up the wall for any signs of something.  It wasn't much longer until….

 "Wait a minute…." Sarah said, "I hear something."

She pressed her ear to the wall, as the others remained silent as a mouse.  She closed her eyes and concentrated deeply.

 "I hear it too," Jack whispered.  Everyone nodded in agreement, as Sarah continued to listen to the wall.  Her eyes shot open, and she pulled away from the wall.

 "It's on the other side." She said as she stepped away from the wall, pointing to it.

Jack smiled proudly at Drake, "This is where I come in.  I suggest you step back or else you'll get hurt."

An explosion tore through the wall of the cave, creating a large hole leading to an even larger cavern.  Its ceiling reached far up into the mountain, Tay realizing that they could have just broken through the floor of the cave anytime they wanted to.  The cavern was lit by very bright fluorescent rocks, which reflected off of some running water, which made the room brighter.  The fireball dispersed in Jack's hand, as he gazed astoundingly into the room.  The five piled into the cavern, most of them mystified by the glorious surroundings.

 "Nice place." Jack said aloud, his gaze slowly moving across the ceiling.

 "Why thank you…." A sinister voice came from the far shadows of the room.

Everyone jumped, as the far, darkened area, lit up mystically by several torches coming to life on their own.  In the middle of the torches, stood a person shrouded in a white ceremonial robe.  The voice gave away that she was female, as did the long, silky black hair.  But something was different about this one.  She wore a mask, an oddly shaped, pale white mask.  A large piece covered her forehead, as it dramatically thinned to where only her nose was covered, which once again spread across a large area covering her mouth and chin.  She gazed at them with her deep blue eyes.

 "How did the villagers manage to find enough money to hire not one, but five bounty hunters to stop me?  Heh…I must be going to easy on them.  Well, that'll all change after I'm finished with you."

 "Oh yeah…and what can some…chick with a fucked up Halloween costume do to me, huh?" Jack said, not too sure at that.

 "Halloween?" The mage asked.  She shook her head, "No...nevermind…I can see why they could afford you, you're idiots."

 "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're freelance hunters.  We fight for something more than money."

 "We don't?" Jack asked nervously.  A quick smack to the back of his head jolted him into reality, "Oh yeah, that's right.  We're just starting out, so we don't have the right to ask people for money." Perhaps too much into reality.  There was a long silence, until Tay grabbed the back of his shirt, and held him out towards the enemy.

 "This is Jack.  He uses red mana, is a pervert, and his weaknesses are bitter cold, and anything that has breasts.  Have fun." And she pushed him towards her.  The mage laughed.

 "Ha ha ha!  Oh dear, this is very amusing!  Fighting amongst yourselves, oh what a shame it is that I have to kill you myself, and that I can't let you do it yourselves!" She continued to laugh, as Jack looked back at Tay.

 "What the hell was that for?!" He yelled.

 "Jack!  You are a complete dumbass, that's what!"

 "Aw shut up!"

 "If you two are done, I'd like to get this over with." Drake butted in stepping his way to the front.  He was forcefully stopped by Jack's arm.

 "Oh, no you don't!  You've helped enough today Soups!  Why don't you just sit back and watch a real fighter at work?!"

 "If you're so willing to die, then so be it!" Drake yelled back, finally losing his temper, "But don't expect me to be dragged down with you to hell when you do!"

 "Oh, aren't you the bright one!"

The insidious laugh from the mage disrupted the argument, as she clapped rhythmically, "More!  More!  Oh I must see more!"

 "OH, SHUT UP!" Jack screamed, he winded back and formed a large fireball and threw it at the women.  It didn't even take a second for the fireball to reach her position, but instead of exploding on impact, it phased right through her much like Sarah did to the wall.

Speaking of walls, the one behind the mage was soon no more.  The explosion ripped a gaping hole in the side of the mountain, revealing the slightly darkened skies as the sun almost broke the horizon.  Surprisingly, the cavern held its own, as little rocks fell, even against the tremendous force of the explosion by Jack's Fireball.  As the wind died down, and the noise settled, the five removed their arms from their heads, to see their enemies hair only slightly mussed up by the strong wind.  Otherwise, she was completely unscathed.

 "How in the hell…." Jack said, mouth gaping open.

 "A…ghost…?" Sarah asked herself nervously.

 "No…not a ghost," The mage answered, giggling, "In fact, I'm much more alive then I ever was." Her eyes looked at Jack seductively, "Thank you…Jack.  For that fabulous performance, and that exhilarating thrill of a near-death experience.  I was taken completely by surprised, and had it not been for my little spell, I'd probably be nothing more than charred ashes.  It's been a long time since I've had a sudden rush of energy like that." And she began to laugh out loud again.

Jack, completely bedazzled and scarred, backtracked a little to where Tay, jaw also dropped, stood, asking, "Should I tell her I wasn't acting?"

 "I really don't think it would matter at this point in time…." She said, her gaze not leaving the mages.  The laughing died down, as the five assumed a fighting stance, sweat running down their faces.  The mages eyes suddenly turned very cold, glaring at the group.

 "Of course, with this little stunt, you've wasted my precious time which I can never get back.  And I am in a bit of a hurry, so I won't be finishing you off myself."

Once again, silence overran the six, and once again, it was not long until that silence was broken, with the quaking of the ground.  It wasn't very forceful, but it was very noticeable.  Jesse looked out past the hole, to the outside.  He noticed that the surrounding mountain range, was experiencing a lot more turbulence.  One mountain in particular for that.  Rocks and boulders tumbled mercilessly down its slopes, making sure to roll over anything that might have lived on that mountain.  It wasn't long until the top of the mountain began to break away, until everything fell silent again.

And in flash, and in an explosion of rocks, dirt, and other debris, the mountain erupted with a gigantic roar as it came to life.  No, as something inside came to life.  As the sun broke the horizon, it glistened off of its almost prismatic skin.  It came alive with colors of silver, blue, red, and purple.  It rose its head to a mighty height, as a gigantic wingspan blocked the suns rays.  It let lose another tremendous roar, as its mighty arm cleared away the debris surrounding its lower legs.  It then stopped, and looked towards the mountain, the mages mountain.  It looked directly at the mage, no, its master, whose back was turned to it.  Immediately it knew what it must do.  It stomped its mighty legs as it slowly approached the mountain, its reptilian head fixated on its tiny morsels of prey.  It stopped in front of the hole, its head low enough to where the five apprentices could see it, but high enough to make them tremble in fear.

 "Jack…" Tay said nervously.

 "Y-Yeah…." Jack responded.

 "Remember…when I told you…the difference between drakes…and dragons…."

The monster glared into the hole, its brow furrowing in anger and disgust.  It raised its large arm.

 "That's a dragon…."  
The dragon then swung, clearing out most of the mountaintop.  Everyone except the mage screamed and ducked, as the dragon stopped its swing, and returned back clearing out the rest of the mountains remains, leaving them completely out in the open.  It let out a roar as it loomed high above their heads, ready to make quick work of them.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man...." Tay kept chanting as she cowered in fear.  Sarah had also ducked low, clinging to Tay, and weeping softly.  Drake, Jesse, and Jack, remained standing, but each had a look of horror plastered to their face, even Drake.  Jack had actually thought he soiled himself.

Jesse glanced at Tay, and looked back, "Tay!  C-Can't you…unsummon this thing or something?!"

 "Oh man, oh man, oh man...I can do it fine with birds and horses, but we're in a whole 'nother league here Jess." She said, her hands clinging to her face.

Drake also did a double take, except this time with Jack, "Well?!  What are you waiting for?!  Attack it!" Jack looked nervously at him, then nodded.  He wiped the look of horror off his face, and threw his arm out towards the dragon.  Immediately, a lightning bolt tore through the sky, impacting the dragon on the shoulder.  But something was wrong.  Instead of burning through its body, the bolt was formed into a ball, as it sparked and sizzled.  The dragon remained unphased, continuing to glare at them.  As if on command, the bolt shot from the dragon's shoulder, striking the ground between the men.  Although not directly hit, the electricity from the shock sent Jesse and Jack to their knees, while Drake struggled to stay up.  The two wearily rose to their feet, as Drake yelled.

 "Dammit!  It's too strong!  One of you protect them, and the other go after the enemy!  I got the dragon!" He yelled, more serious than ever, he sprinted past the girls, who themselves managed to climb up to their feet.  Not long after he made it past them, then he quickly realized that its hand had come around for a third go.  Unlike the drake, there was no time to react, he flinched, and covered his eyes as he heard the thunderous 'boom' of the dragon's arm.

But it didn't hit him, no, it hit Jesse, who somehow managed to stay on his feet even after than blow.  His arms covered his face in a defensive position, as the dragon roared, and applied more force on Jesse.

 "No…" he hissed out.  Drake looked at him in a completely astonished, and surprised look.  "Drake…you may be, no…ARE, the strongest of us…." Jesse gasped out, using all of his strength to hold back the dragon's arm, "But…how are we going to get any stronger…if we let you do all the fighting…." The dragon pushed him back a little but it wasn't enough for it, as it raised its other arm in the air, "Even I have pride…and…I…WON'T HAVE THAT TAKEN AWAY FROM ME AS WELL!" He screamed with all his might, as he pushed the dragon's arm away from him.  It was too late, as its other arm came sweeping down…until an explosion stopped it in its tracks.

 "YEAH BITCH!" Jack yelled triumphantly, "You didn't see that one coming did ya?!" He through another fireball at the dragon, this time, aiming for the chest.  It stopped several feet away from its chest however, and hovered in mid-air.  It was then flung back at Jack, whose eyes went wide with panic and he tried to shield himself.  A quick burst of a large stream of water, immediately extinguished the fireballs glow however, as Tay stood over Jack, smiling.

 "You dumbass.  That's a Quicksilver Dragon.  Its owner fills it with a supply of mana, and the dragon uses that mana to reflect spells casted at it alone.  If you want to use spells, get up close to where it can't see you, or just start beating the shit out of it." She grabbed his hands and hoisted him up to his feet.  They clasped their hands together, creating a tight fist.  They squeezed hard, smiling, and broke as they began to move around.  Then they noticed the dragon was sizably pissed off at this point.  It raised its left arm high in the sky, intending to bring it down hard upon its enemies.

_ "Jesse…"_ He thought to himself, _"This is your only chance.  You're fighting for yourself, you're fighting for your friends, and you're fighting to get back home," he felt his strength increase, _"I'm going to see those luscious forests again, the green grass of Earth, not this Dominaria.  For all the things that make my world more beautiful than this world."_  The paw started its fast descent on the five, as it readied to crush the mountain in a single blow.  "I WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN!" Jesse yelled, and he grew.  He grew to a larger height, much like he did when he first discovered his mana.  Except this time, the robe adjusted to his monstrously huge body.  His arms extended to the sky, he caught the dragon's paw with a mighty blow, creating a huge crater among his feet.  With hands on each side of the dragon's paw, he squeezed hard to create pressure on the dragon's hand, whom was not determined to lose this battle of strength to a mere human.  It roared and was about to come down with its other hand, until it noticed a blur running up its arm.  It was Tay, running like the wind to its head.  It didn't give her a second thought, until her foot met the side of its face.  It reeled its head backwards, roaring in pain.  Tay smiled, until the rocking of the dragon's body caused her to slide down its smooth back, clinging to a loose protrusion on the dragon's backside._

 "Man…" She said, "How the hell did Drake do this?" She tried to lift herself up, but to no avail.

Back in the once cavern, Jesse held on to dear life as his humongous arms grappled with the dragons one.

 "Hold it a little longer Jesse!" Jack yelled, turning to Drake.  He placed his hand on his shoulder, and smiling, looked at him square in the eye, "Hey bud, you already had your fair share of reptiles today.  How about you say we take care of this one?"  He patted his shoulder twice, winked at him, and jumped on the dragons arm, sprinting up it.

Drake watched him nervously, as Jack neared the dragons head.  Sarah, who was kneeling down next to him, looked up at him, and asked.

 "Drake…aren't you going to help them?"

A sneer drew over his lips, and he replied, "Well…they said I could take a break, didn't they?"

Sarah looked up at him, this was the first time she's seen him smile like that before.  But she was still worried about her friends, and looked back at them.  Then she noticed the mage, the whole reason for this mess.  Her brow furrowed, a frown drew across her face.  _"Nobody messes with my friends," she thought to herself, rising to her feet.  This was one of the few times, that Sarah had ever shown anger towards another human being like this._

 "Oh yeah, here I come," Jack said quietly as the dragons head reared around and met its eyes with his, "Oh yeah, you better believe this one's gonna hurt too bitch," He cooed to the dragon, as it opened its mouth and roared, "Except this one has less to do with speed," he formed a fist as the dragon turned its head and was about to snap him in half, "AND HAS A LITTLE MORE TO DO WITH STRENGTH!" He punched the dragon on its lower jaw, sending its head careening backwards, with another painful roar.  Jack stood firmly on its shoulder, fists tightly clenched, and chuckling maniacally.

 "Giant Strength…almost as bad as Jesse down there."

The mage went into a panic, she reeled backwards, astonished that her precious creature was loosing.  But she was certain it wouldn't be for long.

An arm wrapped around her torso, and a hand was placed atop the mask.

 "What the-" She yelped, as she struggled to get herself free.

 "I think it's time," Sarah's smooth voice whispered in her ear, "That you get rid of this ugly thing."  With that, she gently glided her hand across the mask.  And as she did, the mask began to disappear.  When her hand reached her chin, the mask had vanished.  The mage was indeed, a beautiful women, unlikely for one of such evil summoning intentions.  She felt Sarah's hands move to her lower back, as she gently grabbed her waist.

 "Don't worry, I erased that thing off your face for good now…BUT DON'T EVER HURT MY FRIENDS AGAIN!" She screamed directly in her ear.  White lightning than shot through the mages body, as she screamed as was sent hurtling forward.  Her face plowed into the rocks, as she turned over, shaking in pain.  No sooner than she rolled over, than a large hand grasped her face, and lifted it up to Drakes eye level.  His black eyes reverberating deep into hers.

 "It's a shame that such a beautiful women like you should choose this lifestyle," He said coldly.  A shiver of fear ran up her spine, as her pupils faded away with fear, "Let this be a lesson to you," he said as steam began to rise up from her body, "Don't ever rely too much on a few things." With that, a look of shock ran through her eyes, as greenish smoke, her life energy, began to pour out of her glowing eyes, mouth, and nostrils.  Her face began to shrivel up like a prune, as she aged hundreds of years in just a few seconds.  The process was over, and Drake threw her pathetic body to the side, the bones snapping under the dry skin.

Tay, who was still clinging to dear life, noticed the sudden change of mana in the air.  She swung meticulously on the protrusion, and let go with one arm.  She smacked it on a spot directly to her right from her hanging, and a small 'burp' almost, left a small hole in the dragon's backside.  She swung backwards, and once again smacked her hand directly below that hole.  Another 'burp' created another small hole, enabling her to dig her foot into it, and otherwise get a better gripping.

 "Tay!" Jack yelled from atop the dragon, who was swinging its head around trying to either crush, or eat Jack, "Hurry your ass up and get up here!"

There was another 'burp', and Tay placed her hand into a small hole, "I'm hurrying as fast as I can."

Jesse struggled with the dragon's arm still.  Except this time, he had to deal with keeping the dragon from retracting, than from it crushing him, which that in itself was harder still.

 "I'm…still not strong enough." Jesse yelled, as he struggled to keep the dragons arm to the earth.  His eyes bulged with strain, and his veins began to burst in his heads, "No…I need to get stronger…must get stronger…." He tightened his grip on the paw, "Just…a little more…strength!" He finally yelled, as he clenched his hands together, sending the dragon's claws upwards, as he began to crush its paw.  The dragons roar didn't slow Jesse down, as he brought the paw in close to him, and slammed it down on the ground, its palm facing upwards.

Around this time, Tay had managed to make it to the dragons shoulder.

 "Get down there, now!" Jack yelled, ducking underneath the dragons jaw.

 "What about you?!"  
 "I'm taking this bad boy down!" He said all too proudly.

 "Fine by me." Tay said way too easily, as she slid down the dragon's arm.  As she neared Jesse, she yelled, "JESS!  Let go when I get there!" Jesse nodded, and when Tay slid off the palm, Jesse caught her in mid-air, and carried her away from the dragon.  The dragon managed to lift its paw in the air, still roaring in pain.

Jack, his back to the others, slowly turned around.  Showing his eyes to be nothing but pure lightning now.  The wind howled, as the electricity shot out from the corner of his eyes, he spread his arms wide, as dark clouds began to circle, and swirl in the sky.

 "You may have reflected the first one," Jack said aloud to the dragon, still reeling in pain, lightning began to roll across the sky, "Hell, you even managed to bounce off the second one," lightning then began to gather into one point in the swirling vortex in the sky, "but you sure as hell won't survive this one."

The lighting then let loose from its home in the sky.  But this wasn't some mere bolt, or a measly shock stream.  This was a ball, a ball of pure, raw lightning energy, and it was ready to strike the dragon down.  It zigged and zagged in the sky, as if it were alive, and then it struck.  The blow was so powerful, it didn't even need to send wave after wave of electricity through its body.  It was an explosion of electricity, as it tore a gapping hole in the middle of the dragon, and even had more to destroy a large chunk of rock from the base of the once mountain where the body of the dragons master laid.  This was the final blow, as the dragon softly groaned and its limp body fell over on the cliff base, missing Jesse and the others by inches.  It took several hours for the dust and smoke to clear from the mountain base.

Jesse awoke much later.  Apparently, the strain from those enchantments wore a heavy burden on him, as he could barely move his body.  He heard the sloshing of water to his right, and he looked over to Sarah, who rang a wet towel out over a bucket.  She then began to dab his head, as she smiled at him.  He smiled back, no words were needed.  None at all, except….

 "Thank you…." And she gently kissed him on his forehead.  She dunked the rag again, rang it out, and began to cool him off.  Then it occurred to her.

 "What did you mean 'taken away from me'?"

Jesse acted quickly, as he rolled his eyes in his head, and pretended to pass out.  He heard her say, "Oh darnit…."

Outside, Tay reluctantly was assigned the task of healing "the prince," as he now called himself.  She aggressively massaged his shoulders, as he groaned in an almost orgasmic experience.

 "Oh yes…yeessssss…." He said, as Tay moved her thumbs down her back.  She squinted.

 "You know, I expect you to do me just as good, otherwise this'll have to be done to you ten times more to feel any pleasure from it.

 "Mmm…sure, whatever…." He moaned, his eyes closed almost falling asleep.  The approach of footsteps woke him up, so to say, as he looked up at Drake, who had just brought with him a large haul of fruits and vegetables from the town.

 "Is that all you got?" Jack asked, until he felt a slight twinge "OW!"

 "They already apologized to me enough for not having any money to give us…so they gave us this."

 "I guess it'll do." Jack said, as he paid more attention to his once-in-a-lifetime massage. "So Drake," Tay asked, grunting a little bit from the massage, "Not to, insult you or anything…but…how do I put this…?"

Drake smiled, "I understand, no problem."

Tay stopped in mid-stroke, and stared up at Drake.  This was the first time she had ever seen him smile, and have it not be in a sadistic, sinister type way which they were used to.  Jack also stared nervously at him, who grinned even wider.  He then ducked into the cottage which was a temporary relief for the apprentices, and thus the excitement of the day had passed.

************

End Chapter

Quick Notes: 

*bows repeatedly*

I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!  

I get sidetracked so easily, that and the fact that I got a little bit of a writers block halfway through this!  I'm sorry for making you all wait!

I promise you, I won't stop this until I finish it.  And I guarantee, it's a great finish.  It's still a long…long…LONG ways away.  Heck, some of you may not even be interested enough by the time it does come. (Just kidding ^_~)  But please, I ask you, if you promise not to abandon this story, I promise I won't either.


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